System and methods for realizing transverse anderson localization in energy relays using component engineered structures

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are systems and methods for manufacturing energy relays for energy directing systems and Transverse Anderson Localization. Systems and methods include providing first and second component engineered structures with first and second sets of engineered properties and forming a medium using the first component engineered structure and the second component engineered structure. The forming step includes randomizing a first engineered property in a first orientation of the medium resulting in a first variability of that engineered property in that plane, and the values of the second engineered property allowing for a variation of the first engineered property in a second orientation of the medium, where the variation of the first engineered property in the second orientation is less than the variation of the first engineered property in the first orientation.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to energy relays, and morespecifically, to systems of transverse Anderson localization energyrelays and methods of manufacturing thereof.

BACKGROUND

The dream of an interactive virtual world within a “holodeck” chamber aspopularized by Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek and originally envisioned byauthor Alexander Moszkowski in the early 1900s has been the inspirationfor science fiction and technological innovation for nearly a century.However, no compelling implementation of this experience exists outsideof literature, media, and the collective imagination of children andadults alike.

SUMMARY

Disclosed are system and method of manufacturing transverse Andersonlocalization energy relays with engineered structures.

One method of forming a transverse Anderson localization energy relayswith engineered structures includes: (a) providing one or more of afirst component engineered structure, the first component engineeredstructure having a first set of engineered properties, and (b) providingone or more of a second component engineered structure, the secondcomponent engineered structure having a second set of engineeredproperties, where both the first component engineered structure and thesecond component engineered structure have at least two commonengineered properties, denoted by a first engineered property and asecond engineered property.

Next step in the method includes (c) forming a medium using the one ormore of the first component engineered structure and the one or more ofthe second component engineered structure, the forming step randomizesthe first engineered property in a first plane of the medium resultingin a first variability of that engineered property in that plane, withthe values of the second engineered property allowing for a variation ofthe first engineered property in a second plane of the medium, where thevariation of the first engineered property in the second plane is lessthan the variation of the first engineered property in the first plane.

In one embodiment, the first engineered property that is common to boththe first component engineered structure and the second componentengineered structure is index of refraction, and the second engineeredproperty that is common to both the first component engineered structureand the second component engineered structure is shape, and the formingstep (c) randomizes the refractive index of the first componentengineered structure and the refractive index of the second componentengineered structure along a first plane of the medium resulting in afirst variability in index of refraction, with the combined geometry ofthe shapes of the first component engineered structure and the secondcomponent engineered structure resulting in a variation in index ofrefraction in the second plane of the medium, where the variation of theindex of refraction in the second plane is less than the variation ofindex of refraction in the first plane of the medium.

In one embodiment, the method further includes (d) forming an assemblyusing the medium such that the first plane of the medium extends alongthe transverse orientation of the assembly and the second plane of themedium extends along the longitudinal orientation of the assembly, whereenergy waves propagating through the assembly have higher transportefficiency in the longitudinal orientation versus the transverseorientation and are spatially localized in the transverse orientationdue to the first engineered property and the second engineered property.

In some embodiments, the forming steps (c) or (d) includes forming theassembly into a layered, concentric, cylindrical configuration or arolled, spiral configuration or other assembly configurations requiredfor optical prescriptions defining the formation of the assembly of theone or more first component engineered structure and the one or moresecond component engineered structure in predefined volumes along atleast one of the transverse orientation and the longitudinal orientationthereby resulting in one or more gradients between the first order ofrefractive index and the second order of refractive index with respectto location throughout the medium.

In other embodiments, each of the forming steps (c) and (d) includes atleast one of forming by intermixing, curing, bonding, UV exposure,fusing, machining, laser cutting, melting, polymerizing, etching,engraving, 3D printing, CNCing, lithographic processing, metallization,liquefying, deposition, ink-jet printing, laser forming, opticalforming, perforating, layering, heating, cooling, ordering, disordering,polishing, obliterating, cutting, material removing, compressing,pressurizing, vacuuming, gravitational forces and other processingmethods.

In yet another embodiment, the method further includes (e) processingthe assembly by forming, molding or machining to create at least one ofcomplex or formed shapes, curved or slanted surfaces, optical elements,gradient index lenses, diffractive optics, optical relay, optical taperand other geometric configurations or optical devices.

In an embodiment, the properties of the engineered structures of steps(a) and (b) and the formed medium of step (c) cumulatively combine toexhibit the properties of Transverse Anderson Localization.

In some embodiments, the forming step (c) includes forming with at leastone of: (i) an additive process of the first component engineeredstructure to the second component engineered structure; (ii) asubtractive process of the first component engineered structure toproduce voids or an inverse structure to form with the second componentengineered structure; (iii) an additive process of the second componentengineered structure to the first component engineered structure; or(iv) a subtractive process of the second component engineered structureto produce voids or an inverse structure to form with the firstcomponent engineered structure.

In one embodiment, each of the providing steps (a) and (b) includes theone or more of the first component engineered structure and the one ormore of the second component engineered structure being in at least oneof liquid, gas or solid form. In another embodiment, each of theproviding steps (a) and (b) includes the one or more of the firstcomponent engineered structure and the one or more of the secondcomponent engineered structure being of at least one of polymericmaterial, and where each of the first refractive index and the secondrefractive index being greater than 1. In one embodiment, each of theproviding steps (a) and (b) includes the one or more of the firstcomponent engineered structure and the one or more of the secondcomponent engineered structure, having one or more of first componentengineered structure dimensions differing in a first and second plane,and one or more of second component engineered structure dimensionsdiffering in a first and second plane, where one or more of thestructure dimensions of the second plane are different than the firstplane, and the structure dimension of the first plane are less than fourtimes the wavelength of visible light.

Another method of forming a transverse Anderson localization energyrelays with engineered structures includes: (a) providing one or more ofa first component engineered structure, the first component engineeredstructure having a first refractive index n₀, engineered property p₀,and first absorptive optical quality b₀, and (b) providing one or more Ncomponent engineered structure, each N_(i) structure with refractiveindex n_(i), engineered property p_(i), and absorptive optical qualityb_(i), where N is 1 or greater.

In another embodiment, the method includes: (c) forming a medium usingthe one or more of the first component engineered structure, and the oneor more of the N_(i) structure, the forming step randomizes the firstrefractive index n₀ and the refractive index n_(i), along a first planeof the medium resulting in a first refractive index variability, withengineered properties p₀ and p_(i) inducing a second refractive indexvariability along a second plane of the medium, where the second planeis different from the first plane, and where the second refractive indexvariability is lower than the first refractive index variability due tothe combined geometry between the first engineered property p₀ and theengineered property p_(i).

In yet another embodiment, the method includes: (d) forming an assemblyusing the medium such that the first plane of the medium is thetransverse orientation of the assembly and the second plane of themedium is the longitudinal orientation of the assembly, where energywaves propagating from an entrance to an exit of the assembly havehigher transport efficiency in the longitudinal orientation versus thetransverse orientation and are spatially localized in the transverseorientation due to the engineered properties and the resultantrefractive index variability, and where the absorptive optical qualityof the medium facilitates the reduction of unwanted diffusion or scatterof energy waves through the assembly.

In some embodiments, where each of the providing steps (a) and (b)includes the one or more of the first component engineered structure andthe one or more of the i structure being an additive process includingat least one of bonding agent, oil, epoxy, and other optical grade,adhesive materials or immersion fluids.

In some embodiments, the forming step (c) includes forming the mediuminto a non-solid form, and where the forming step (d) includes formingthe assembly into a loose, coherent waveguide system having a flexiblehousing for receiving the non-solid form medium.

In other embodiments, the forming step (c) includes forming the mediuminto a liquid form, and where the forming step (d) includes forming theassembly by directly depositing or applying liquid form medium.

In some embodiments, the forming steps (c) and (d) include combining twoor more loose or fused mediums in varied orientations for forming atleast one of multiple entries or multiple exits of the assembly.

In other embodiments, the forming step (d) includes forming the assemblyinto a system to transmit and receive the energy waves. In oneembodiment, the system is capable of both transmitting and receivinglocalized energy simultaneously through the same medium.

Another method of forming a transverse Anderson localization energyrelays with engineered structures includes: (a) providing one or morecomponent engineered structure, each one or more structure havingmaterial engineered properties, where at least one structure isprocessed into a transient bi-axial state or exhibits non-standardtemporary ordering of chemical chains; (b) forming a medium by at leastone of an additive, subtractive or isolated process, the additiveprocess includes adding at least one transient structure to one or moreadditional structure, the subtractive process includes producing voidsor an inverse structure from at least one transient structure to formwith the one or more additional structure, the isolated process includesengineering at least one transient structure in the absence or removalof additional structure; and (c) forming an assembly with the mediumsuch that at least one transient material modifies the transientordering of chemical chains inducing an increase of material propertyvariation along a first plane of an assembly relative to a decrease ofmaterial property variation along a second plane of an assembly.

In one embodiment, the method further includes: (d) the formed assemblyof step (c) resulting in structures within the compound formed medium ofstep (b) exhibiting at least one of different dimensions, particle sizeor volume individually and cumulatively as provided for in step (a) andengineered as a compound sub-structure for further assembly; (e)providing at least one or more of the compound sub-structure from step(c) and the compound formed medium from step (b), collectively calledsub-structure, the one or more sub-structure having one or morerefractive index variation for a first and second plane and one or moresub-structure engineered property; (f) providing one or more Nstructure, each N_(i) structure having a refractive index n_(i), and anengineered property p_(i), where i is 1 or greater; (g) forming a mediumusing the one or more sub-structure and the one or more N_(i) structure,the forming step randomizes the n_(i) refractive index along the one ormore sub-structure's first plane resulting in a first compound mediumrefractive index variability, with engineered properties inducing asecond compound medium refractive index variability along the one ormore sub-structure's second plane, where the one or more sub-structure'ssecond plane is different from the one or more sub-structure's firstplane, and where the second compound medium refractive index variabilityis lower than the first compound medium refractive index variability dueto the one or more sub-structure engineered property and the N_(i)engineered property; and (h) forming a compound assembly using thecompound medium such that the one or more sub-structure's first plane isthe transverse orientation of the compound assembly and the one or moresub-structure's second plane is the longitudinal orientation of thecompound assembly, where energy waves propagating to or from an entranceto an exit of the compound assembly have higher transport efficiency inthe longitudinal orientation versus the transverse orientation and arespatially localized in the transverse orientation due to the compoundengineered properties and the resultant compound refractive indexvariability.

In some embodiments, the assembly of step (c) or step (h) includesheating or other form of processing to modify the transient ordering ofchemical chains of the materials within the assembly, where thearrangement, density, and engineered property of the transient materialsare varied in at least one of the transverse orientation or thelongitudinal orientation, thereby causing the assembly during heattreatment or other processing to naturally taper or cause dimensionalvariations along at least one of the transverse orientation or thelongitudinal orientation of the assembly to produce various opticalgeometries that would have otherwise required complex manufacturing thatmaintain the appropriate ordering for energy transport efficiency.

In one embodiment, a device having Transverse Anderson Localizationproperty includes a relay element formed of one or more of a firststructure and one or more of a second structure, the first structurehaving a first wave propagation property and the second structure havinga second wave propagation property, the relay element configured torelay energy therethrough, where, along a transverse orientation thefirst structure and the second structure are arranged in an interleavingconfiguration with spatial variability, where, along a longitudinalorientation the first structure and the second structure havesubstantially similar configuration, and where energy is spatiallylocalized in the transverse orientation and greater than about 50% ofthe energy propagates along the longitudinal orientation versus thetransverse orientation through the relay element.

In another embodiment, the relay element includes a first surface and asecond surface, and wherein the energy propagating between the firstsurface and the second surface travel along a path that is substantiallyparallel to the longitudinal orientation. In some embodiments, the firstwave propagation property is a first index of refraction and the secondwave propagation property is a second index of refraction, where avariability between the first index of refraction and the second indexof refraction results in the energy being spatially localized in thetransverse orientation and greater than about 50% of the energypropagating from the first surface to the second surface.

In one embodiment, the energy passing through the first surface has afirst resolution, where the energy passing through the second surfacehas a second resolution, and where the second resolution is no less thanabout 50% of the first resolution. In another embodiment, the energywith a uniform profile presented to the first surface passes through thesecond surface to substantially fill a cone with an opening angle of+/−10 degrees relative to the normal to the second surface, irrespectiveof location of the energy on the second surface.

In one embodiment, the first surface has a different surface area thanthe second surface, where the relay element further comprises a slopedprofile portion between the first surface and the second surface, andwhere the energy passing through the relay element results in spatialmagnification or spatial de-magnification. In another embodiment, eachof the first structure and the second structure includes glass, carbon,optical fiber, optical film, polymer or mixtures thereof.

In some embodiments, both the first surface and the second surface areplanar, or both the first surface and the second surface are non-planar,or the first surface is planar and the second surface is non-planar, orthe first surface is non-planar and the second surface is planar, orboth the first surface and the second surface are concave, or both thefirst surface and the second surface are convex, or the first surface isconcave and the second surface is convex, or the first surface is convexand the second surface is concave.

In one embodiment, the device includes the first structure having anaverage first dimension along the transverse orientation that is lessthan four times the wavelength of the energy relayed therethrough,average second and third dimensions substantially larger than theaverage first dimension along second and third orientations,respectively, the second and third orientations substantially orthogonalto the transverse orientation, where the second wave propagationproperty has the same property as the first wave propagation propertybut with a different value, where the first structure and the secondstructure are arranged with maximum spatial variability in thetransverse dimension such that the first wave propagation property andthe second wave propagation property have maximum variation, where thefirst structure and the second structure are spatially arranged suchthat the first wave propagation property and the second wave propagationproperty are invariant along the longitudinal orientation, and wherealong the transverse orientation throughout the relay element, thecenter-to-center spacing between channels of the first structure variesrandomly, with an average spacing between one and four times an averagedimension of the first structure, and where two adjacent longitudinalchannels of the first structure are separated by the second structure atsubstantially every location by a distance of at least one half theaverage dimension of the first structure.

In one embodiment, the relay element includes a first surface and asecond surface, and where the energy propagating between the firstsurface and the second surface travel along a path that is substantiallyparallel to the longitudinal orientation. In another embodiment, thefirst wave propagation property is a first index of refraction and thesecond wave propagation property is a second index of refraction, wherea variability between the first index of refraction and the second indexof refraction results in the energy being spatially localized in thetransverse orientation and greater than about 50% of the energypropagating from the first surface to the second surface.

In one embodiment, a system may include Transverse Anderson Localizationenergy relays with engineered structures incorporating the devices andrelay elements described herein.

These and other advantages of the present disclosure will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating design parameters for anenergy directing system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an energy system having anactive device area with a mechanical envelope;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an energy relay system;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of energy relayelements adhered together and fastened to a base structure;

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a relayedimage through multi-core optical fibers;

FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a relayedimage through an optical relay that exhibits the properties of theTransverse Anderson Localization principle;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing rays propagated from an energysurface to a viewer;

FIG. 7A illustrates a cutaway view of a flexible energy relay whichachieves Transverse Anderson Localization by intermixing two componentmaterials within an oil or liquid, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 7B illustrates a cutaway view of a rigid energy relay whichachieves Transverse Anderson Localization by intermixing two componentmaterials within a bonding agent, and in doing so, achieves a path ofminimum variation in one direction for one critical material property,in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a cutaway view in the transverse plane the inclusionof a DEMA (dimensional extra mural absorption) material in thelongitudinal direction designed to absorb energy, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a method to intermix one or more component materialswithin a two-part system, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates an implementation of a process where a mixture ofcomponent materials and UV sensitive bonding agents are intermixedtogether and form transversely disordered and longitudinally orderedthreads of material, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 11A illustrates a top view and a side view of a radially symmetricenergy relay building block with two alternating component materials, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11B illustrates a side view of a region within a biaxiallytensioned material filled with two component materials that arespherical in shape before tension release and elongated in shape aftertension release, a process which preserves the overall ordering of thematerials.

FIG. 12 illustrates a perspective view of a relay formed with multiplecomponent materials implemented such that there is an input ray and anoutput ray that alters as a function of the property of each of thematerials contained within the energy relay, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 illustrates perspective views of a process that generates anenergy relay by starting with sheets of aligned component materials,using two sheets each with one type of material or one sheet with twotypes of component materials, and then using these sheets as buildingblocks to roll together into a spiral structure, forming an energyrelay, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 14 illustrates perspective views of a repeating pattern of 20component materials each with one or more EPs with a thickness that mayor may not be the same per sheet spiraled into an energy relay structurethere is an input ray angle and an output ray angle that is a result ofthe differing EP of each region of material, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An embodiment of a Holodeck (collectively called “Holodeck DesignParameters”) provide sufficient energy stimulus to fool the humansensory receptors into believing that received energy impulses within avirtual, social and interactive environment are real, providing: 1)binocular disparity without external accessories, head-mounted eyewear,or other peripherals; 2) accurate motion parallax, occlusion and opacitythroughout a viewing volume simultaneously for any number of viewers; 3)visual focus through synchronous convergence, accommodation and miosisof the eye for all perceived rays of light; and 4) converging energywave propagation of sufficient density and resolution to exceed thehuman sensory “resolution” for vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell,and/or balance.

Based upon conventional technology to date, we are decades, if notcenturies away from a technology capable of providing for all receptivefields in a compelling way as suggested by the Holodeck DesignParameters including the visual, auditory, somatosensory, gustatory,olfactory, and vestibular systems.

In this disclosure, the terms light field and holographic may be usedinterchangeably to define the energy propagation for stimulation of anysensory receptor response. While initial disclosures may refer toexamples of electromagnetic and mechanical energy propagation throughenergy surfaces for holographic imagery and volumetric haptics, allforms of sensory receptors are envisioned in this disclosure.Furthermore, the principles disclosed herein for energy propagationalong propagation paths may be applicable to both energy emission andenergy capture.

Many technologies exist today that are often unfortunately confused withholograms including lenticular printing, Pepper's Ghost, glasses-freestereoscopic displays, horizontal parallax displays, head-mounted VR andAR displays (HMD), and other such illusions generalized as“fauxlography.” These technologies may exhibit some of the desiredproperties of a true holographic display, however, lack the ability tostimulate the human visual sensory response in any way sufficient toaddress at least two of the four identified Holodeck Design Parameters.

These challenges have not been successfully implemented by conventionaltechnology to produce a seamless energy surface sufficient forholographic energy propagation. There are various approaches toimplementing volumetric and direction multiplexed light field displaysincluding parallax barriers, hogels, voxels, diffractive optics,multi-view projection, holographic diffusers, rotational mirrors,multilayered displays, time sequential displays, head mounted display,etc., however, conventional approaches may involve a compromise on imagequality, resolution, angular sampling density, size, cost, safety, framerate, etc., ultimately resulting in an unviable technology.

To achieve the Holodeck Design Parameters for the visual, auditory,somatosensory systems, the human acuity of each of the respectivesystems is studied and understood to propagate energy waves tosufficiently fool the human sensory receptors. The visual system iscapable of resolving to approximately 1 arc min, the auditory system maydistinguish the difference in placement as little as three degrees, andthe somatosensory system at the hands are capable of discerning pointsseparated by 2-12 mm. While there are various and conflicting ways tomeasure these acuities, these values are sufficient to understand thesystems and methods to stimulate perception of energy propagation.

Of the noted sensory receptors, the human visual system is by far themost sensitive given that even a single photon can induce sensation. Forthis reason, much of this introduction will focus on visual energy wavepropagation, and vastly lower resolution energy systems coupled within adisclosed energy waveguide surface may converge appropriate signals toinduce holographic sensory perception. Unless otherwise noted, alldisclosures apply to all energy and sensory domains.

When calculating for effective design parameters of the energypropagation for the visual system given a viewing volume and viewingdistance, a desired energy surface may be designed to include manygigapixels of effective energy location density. For wide viewingvolumes, or near field viewing, the design parameters of a desiredenergy surface may include hundreds of gigapixels or more of effectiveenergy location density. By comparison, a desired energy source may bedesigned to have 1 to 250 effective megapixels of energy locationdensity for ultrasonic propagation of volumetric haptics or an array of36 to 3,600 effective energy locations for acoustic propagation ofholographic sound depending on input environmental variables. What isimportant to note is that with a disclosed bi-directional energy surfacearchitecture, all components may be configured to form the appropriatestructures for any energy domain to enable holographic propagation.

However, the main challenge to enable the Holodeck today involvesavailable visual technologies and electromagnetic device limitations.Acoustic and ultrasonic devices are less challenging given the orders ofmagnitude difference in desired density based upon sensory acuity in therespective receptive field, although the complexity should not beunderestimated. While holographic emulsion exists with resolutionsexceeding the desired density to encode interference patterns in staticimagery, state-of-the-art display devices are limited by resolution,data throughput and manufacturing feasibility. To date, no singulardisplay device has been able to meaningfully produce a light fieldhaving near holographic resolution for visual acuity.

Production of a single silicon-based device capable of meeting thedesired resolution for a compelling light field display may notpractical and may involve extremely complex fabrication processes beyondthe current manufacturing capabilities. The limitation to tilingmultiple existing display devices together involves the seams and gapformed by the physical size of packaging, electronics, enclosure, opticsand a number of other challenges that inevitably result in an unviabletechnology from an imaging, cost and/or a size standpoint.

The embodiments disclosed herein may provide a real-world path tobuilding the Holodeck.

Example embodiments will now be described hereinafter with reference tothe accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and whichillustrate example embodiments which may be practiced. As used in thedisclosures and the appended claims, the terms “embodiment”, “exampleembodiment”, and “exemplary embodiment” do not necessarily refer to asingle embodiment, although they may, and various example embodimentsmay be readily combined and interchanged, without departing from thescope or spirit of example embodiments. Furthermore, the terminology asused herein is for the purpose of describing example embodiments onlyand is not intended to be limitations. In this respect, as used herein,the term “in” may include “in” and “on”, and the terms “a,” “an” and“the” may include singular and plural references. Furthermore, as usedherein, the term “by” may also mean “from”, depending on the context.Furthermore, as used herein, the term “if” may also mean “when” or“upon,” depending on the context. Furthermore, as used herein, the words“and/or” may refer to and encompass any and all possible combinations ofone or more of the associated listed items.

Holographic System Considerations Overview of Light Field EnergyPropagation Resolution

Light field and holographic display is the result of a plurality ofprojections where energy surface locations provide angular, color andintensity information propagated within a viewing volume. The disclosedenergy surface provides opportunities for additional information tocoexist and propagate through the same surface to induce other sensorysystem responses. Unlike a stereoscopic display, the viewed position ofthe converged energy propagation paths in space do not vary as theviewer moves around the viewing volume and any number of viewers maysimultaneously see propagated objects in real-world space as if it wastruly there. In some embodiments, the propagation of energy may belocated in the same energy propagation path but in opposite directions.For example, energy emission and energy capture along an energypropagation path are both possible in some embodiments of the presentdisclosed.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating variables relevant forstimulation of sensory receptor response. These variables may includesurface diagonal 101, surface width 102, surface height 103, adetermined target seating distance 118, the target seating field of viewfield of view from the center of the display 104, the number ofintermediate samples demonstrated here as samples between the eyes 105,the average adult inter-ocular separation 106, the average resolution ofthe human eye in arcmin 107, the horizontal field of view formed betweenthe target viewer location and the surface width 108, the vertical fieldof view formed between the target viewer location and the surface height109, the resultant horizontal waveguide element resolution, or totalnumber of elements, across the surface 110, the resultant verticalwaveguide element resolution, or total number of elements, across thesurface 111, the sample distance based upon the inter-ocular spacingbetween the eyes and the number of intermediate samples for angularprojection between the eyes 112, the angular sampling may be based uponthe sample distance and the target seating distance 113, the totalresolution Horizontal per waveguide element derived from the angularsampling desired 114, the total resolution Vertical per waveguideelement derived from the angular sampling desired 115, device Horizontalis the count of the determined number of discreet energy sources desired116, and device Vertical is the count of the determined number ofdiscreet energy sources desired 117.

A method to understand the desired minimum resolution may be based uponthe following criteria to ensure sufficient stimulation of visual (orother) sensory receptor response: surface size (e.g., 84″ diagonal),surface aspect ratio (e.g., 16:9), seating distance (e.g., 128″ from thedisplay), seating field of view (e.g., 120 degrees or +/−60 degreesabout the center of the display), desired intermediate samples at adistance (e.g., one additional propagation path between the eyes), theaverage inter-ocular separation of an adult (approximately 65 mm), andthe average resolution of the human eye (approximately 1 arcmin). Theseexample values should be considered placeholders depending on thespecific application design parameters.

Further, each of the values attributed to the visual sensory receptorsmay be replaced with other systems to determine desired propagation pathparameters. For other energy propagation embodiments, one may considerthe auditory system's angular sensitivity as low as three degrees, andthe somatosensory system's spatial resolution of the hands as small as2-12 mm.

While there are various and conflicting ways to measure these sensoryacuities, these values are sufficient to understand the systems andmethods to stimulate perception of virtual energy propagation. There aremany ways to consider the design resolution, and the below proposedmethodology combines pragmatic product considerations with thebiological resolving limits of the sensory systems. As will beappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the following overviewis a simplification of any such system design, and should be consideredfor exemplary purposes only.

With the resolution limit of the sensory system understood, the totalenergy waveguide element density may be calculated such that thereceiving sensory system cannot discern a single energy waveguideelement from an adjacent element, given:

${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Surface}\mspace{14mu}{Aspect}\mspace{14mu}{Ratio}} = \frac{{Width}\mspace{14mu}(W)}{{Height}\mspace{14mu}(H)}$${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Surface}\mspace{14mu}{Horizontal}\mspace{14mu}{Size}} = {{Surface}\mspace{14mu}{Diagonal}*( \frac{1}{\sqrt{( {1 + ( \frac{H}{W} )^{2}} }} )}$${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Surface}\mspace{14mu}{Vertical}\mspace{14mu}{Size}} = {{Surface}\mspace{14mu}{Diagonal}*( \frac{1}{\sqrt{( {1 + ( \frac{H}{W} )^{2}} }} )}$${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Horizontal}\mspace{14mu}{Field}\mspace{14mu}{of}\mspace{14mu}{View}} = {2*a\;{\tan( \frac{{Surface}\mspace{14mu}{Horizontal}\mspace{14mu}{Size}}{2*{Seating}\mspace{14mu}{Distance}} )}}$${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Vertical}\mspace{14mu}{Field}\mspace{14mu}{of}\mspace{14mu}{View}} = {2*a\;{\tan( \frac{{Surface}\mspace{14mu}{Vertical}\mspace{14mu}{Size}}{2*{Seating}\mspace{14mu}{Distance}} )}}$${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Horizontal}\mspace{14mu}{Element}\mspace{14mu}{Resolution}} = {{Horizontal}\mspace{14mu}{FoV}*\frac{60}{{Eye}\mspace{14mu}{Resolution}}}$${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Vertical}\mspace{14mu}{Element}\mspace{14mu}{Resolution}} = {{Vertical}\mspace{14mu}{FoV}*\frac{60}{{Eye}\mspace{14mu}{Resolution}}}$

The above calculations result in approximately a 32×18° field of viewresulting in approximately 1920×1080 (rounded to nearest format) energywaveguide elements being desired. One may also constrain the variablessuch that the field of view is consistent for both (u, v) to provide amore regular spatial sampling of energy locations (e.g. pixel aspectratio). The angular sampling of the system assumes a defined targetviewing volume location and additional propagated energy paths betweentwo points at the optimized distance, given:

${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Sample}\mspace{14mu}{Distance}} = \frac{{Inter}\text{-}{Ocular}\mspace{14mu}{Distance}}{( {{{Number}\mspace{14mu}{of}\mspace{14mu}{Desired}{\mspace{11mu}\;}{Intermediate}\mspace{14mu}{Samples}} + 1} )}$${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Angular}\mspace{14mu}{Sampling}} = {a\;{\tan( \frac{{Sample}\mspace{14mu}{Distance}}{{Seating}\mspace{14mu}{Distance}} )}}$

In this case, the inter-ocular distance is leveraged to calculate thesample distance although any metric may be leveraged to account forappropriate number of samples as a given distance. With the abovevariables considered, approximately one ray per 0.57° may be desired andthe total system resolution per independent sensory system may bedetermined, given:

${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Locations}\mspace{14mu}{Per}\mspace{14mu}{Element}\mspace{14mu}(N)} = \frac{{Seating}\mspace{14mu}{FoV}}{{Angular}\mspace{14mu}{Sampling}}$•  Total  Resolution  H = N * Horizontal  Element  Resolution•  Total  Resolution  V = N * Vertical  Element  Resolution

With the above scenario given the size of energy surface and the angularresolution addressed for the visual acuity system, the resultant energysurface may desirably include approximately 400 k×225 k pixels of energyresolution locations, or 90 gigapixels holographic propagation density.These variables provided are for exemplary purposes only and many othersensory and energy metrology considerations should be considered for theoptimization of holographic propagation of energy. In an additionalembodiment, 1 gigapixel of energy resolution locations may be desiredbased upon the input variables. In an additional embodiment, 1,000gigapixels of energy resolution locations may be desired based upon theinput variables.

Current Technology Limitations Active Area, Device Electronics,Packaging, and the Mechanical Envelope

FIG. 2 illustrates a device 200 having an active area 220 with a certainmechanical form factor. The device 200 may include drivers 230 andelectronics 240 for powering and interface to the active area 220, theactive area having a dimension as shown by the x and y arrows. Thisdevice 200 does not take into account the cabling and mechanicalstructures to drive, power and cool components, and the mechanicalfootprint may be further minimized by introducing a flex cable into thedevice 200. The minimum footprint for such a device 200 may also bereferred to as a mechanical envelope 210 having a dimension as shown bythe M:x and M:y arrows. This device 200 is for illustration purposesonly and custom electronics designs may further decrease the mechanicalenvelope overhead, but in almost all cases may not be the exact size ofthe active area of the device. In an embodiment, this device 200illustrates the dependency of electronics as it relates to active imagearea 220 for a micro OLED, DLP chip or LCD panel, or any othertechnology with the purpose of image illumination.

In some embodiments, it may also be possible to consider otherprojection technologies to aggregate multiple images onto a largeroverall display. However, this may come at the cost of greatercomplexity for throw distance, minimum focus, optical quality, uniformfield resolution, chromatic aberration, thermal properties, calibration,alignment, additional size or form factor. For most practicalapplications, hosting tens or hundreds of these projection sources 200may result in a design that is much larger with less reliability.

For exemplary purposes only, assuming energy devices with an energylocation density of 3840×2160 sites, one may determine the number ofindividual energy devices (e.g., device 100) desired for an energysurface, given:

${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Devices}\mspace{14mu} H} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu}{Resolution}\mspace{14mu} H}{{Device}\mspace{14mu}{Resolution}\mspace{14mu} H}$${\bullet\mspace{14mu}{Devices}\mspace{14mu} V} = \frac{{Total}\mspace{14mu}{Resolution}\mspace{14mu} V}{{Device}\mspace{14mu}{Resolution}\mspace{14mu} V}$

Given the above resolution considerations, approximately 105×105 devicessimilar to those shown in FIG. 2 may be desired. It should be noted thatmany devices consist of various pixel structures that may or may not mapto a regular grid. In the event that there are additional sub-pixels orlocations within each full pixel, these may be exploited to generateadditional resolution or angular density. Additional signal processingmay be used to determine how to convert the light field into the correct(u,v) coordinates depending on the specified location of the pixelstructure(s) and can be an explicit characteristic of each device thatis known and calibrated. Further, other energy domains may involve adifferent handling of these ratios and device structures, and thoseskilled in the art will understand the direct intrinsic relationshipbetween each of the desired frequency domains. This will be shown anddiscussed in more detail in subsequent disclosure.

The resulting calculation may be used to understand how many of theseindividual devices may be desired to produce a full resolution energysurface. In this case, approximately 105×105 or approximately 11,080devices may be desired to achieve the visual acuity threshold. Thechallenge and novelty exists within the fabrication of a seamless energysurface from these available energy locations for sufficient sensoryholographic propagation.

Summary of Seamless Energy Surfaces Configurations and Designs forArrays of Energy Relays

In some embodiments, approaches are disclosed to address the challengeof generating high energy location density from an array of individualdevices without seams due to the limitation of mechanical structure forthe devices. In an embodiment, an energy propagating relay system mayallow for an increase the effective size of the active device area tomeet or exceed the mechanical dimensions to configure an array of relaysand form a singular seamless energy surface.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of such an energy relay system 300. Asshown, the relay system 300 may include a device 310 mounted to amechanical envelope 320, with an energy relay element 330 propagatingenergy from the device 310. The relay element 330 may be configured toprovide the ability to mitigate any gaps 340 that may be produced whenmultiple mechanical envelopes 320 of the device are placed into an arrayof multiple devices 310.

For example, if a device's active area 310 is 20 mm×10 mm and themechanical envelope 320 is 40 mm×20 mm, an energy relay element 330 maybe designed with a magnification of 2:1 to produce a tapered form thatis approximately 20 mm×10 mm on a minified end (arrow A) and 40 mm×20 mmon a magnified end (arrow B), providing the ability to align an array ofthese elements 330 together seamlessly without altering or collidingwith the mechanical envelope 320 of each device 310. Mechanically, therelay elements 330 may be bonded or fused together to align and polishensuring minimal seam gap 340 between devices 310. In one suchembodiment, it is possible to achieve a seam gap 340 smaller than thevisual acuity limit of the eye.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a base structure 400 having energyrelay elements 410 formed together and securely fastened to anadditional mechanical structure 430. The mechanical structure of theseamless energy surface 420 provides the ability to couple multipleenergy relay elements 410, 450 in series to the same base structurethrough bonding or other mechanical processes to mount relay elements410, 450. In some embodiments, each relay element 410 may be fused,bonded, adhered, pressure fit, aligned or otherwise attached together toform the resultant seamless energy surface 420. In some embodiments, adevice 480 may be mounted to the rear of the relay element 410 andaligned passively or actively to ensure appropriate energy locationalignment within the determined tolerance is maintained.

In an embodiment, the seamless energy surface comprises one or moreenergy locations and one or more energy relay element stacks comprise afirst and second side and each energy relay element stack is arranged toform a singular seamless display surface directing energy alongpropagation paths extending between one or more energy locations and theseamless display surface, and where the separation between the edges ofany two adjacent second sides of the terminal energy relay elements isless than the minimum perceptible contour as defined by the visualacuity of a human eye having better than 20/40 vision at a distancegreater than the width of the singular seamless display surface.

In an embodiment, each of the seamless energy surfaces comprise one ormore energy relay elements each with one or more structures forming afirst and second surface with a transverse and longitudinal orientation.The first relay surface has an area different than the second resultingin positive or negative magnification and configured with explicitsurface contours for both the first and second surfaces passing energythrough the second relay surface to substantially fill a +/−10-degreeangle with respect to the normal of the surface contour across theentire second relay surface.

In an embodiment, multiple energy domains may be configured within asingle, or between multiple energy relays to direct one or more sensoryholographic energy propagation paths including visual, acoustic, tactileor other energy domains.

In an embodiment, the seamless energy surface is configured with energyrelays that comprise two or more first sides for each second side toboth receive and emit one or more energy domains simultaneously toprovide bi-directional energy propagation throughout the system.

In an embodiment, the energy relays are provided as loose coherentelements.

Introduction to Component Engineered Structures Disclosed Advances inTransverse Anderson Localization Energy Relays

The properties of energy relays may be significantly optimized accordingto the principles disclosed herein for energy relay elements that induceTransverse Anderson Localization. Transverse Anderson Localization isthe propagation of a ray transported through a transversely disorderedbut longitudinally consistent material.

This implies that the effect of the materials that produce the AndersonLocalization phenomena may be less impacted by total internal reflectionthan by the randomization between multiple-scattering paths where waveinterference can completely limit the propagation in the transverseorientation while continuing in the longitudinal orientation.

Of significant additional benefit is the elimination of the cladding oftraditional multi-core optical fiber materials. The cladding is tofunctionally eliminate the scatter of energy between fibers, butsimultaneously act as a barrier to rays of energy thereby reducingtransmission by at least the core to clad ratio (e.g., a core to cladratio of 70:30 will transmit at best 70% of received energytransmission) and additionally forms a strong pixelated patterning inthe propagated energy.

FIG. 5A illustrates an end view of an example of one such non-AndersonLocalization energy relay 500, wherein an image is relayed throughmulti-core optical fibers where pixilation and fiber noise may beexhibited due to the intrinsic properties of the optical fibers. Withtraditional multi-mode and multi-core optical fibers, relayed images maybe intrinsically pixelated due to the properties of total internalreflection of the discrete array of cores where any cross-talk betweencores will reduce the modulation transfer function and increaseblurring. The resulting imagery produced with traditional multi-coreoptical fiber tends to have a residual fixed noise fiber pattern similarto those shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5B, illustrates an example of the same relayed image 550 through anenergy relay comprising materials that exhibit the properties ofTransverse Anderson Localization, where the relayed pattern has agreater density grain structures as compared to the fixed fiber patternfrom FIG. 5A. In an embodiment, relays comprising randomized microscopiccomponent engineered structures induce Transverse Anderson Localizationand transport light more efficiently with higher propagation ofresolvable resolution than commercially available multi-mode glassoptical fibers.

There is significant advantage to the Transverse Anderson Localizationmaterial properties in terms of both cost and weight, where a similaroptical grade glass material, may cost and weigh upwards of 10 to100-fold more than the cost for the same material generated within anembodiment, wherein disclosed systems and methods comprise randomizedmicroscopic component engineered structures demonstrating significantopportunities to improve both cost and quality over other technologiesknown in the art.

In an embodiment, a relay element exhibiting Transverse AndersonLocalization may comprise a plurality of at least two differentcomponent engineered structures in each of three orthogonal planesarranged in a dimensional lattice and the plurality of structures formrandomized distributions of material wave propagation properties in atransverse plane within the dimensional lattice and channels of similarvalues of material wave propagation properties in a longitudinal planewithin the dimensional lattice, wherein energy waves propagating throughthe energy relay have higher transport efficiency in the longitudinalorientation versus the transverse orientation and are spatiallylocalized in the transverse orientation.

In an embodiment, multiple energy domains may be configured within asingle, or between multiple Transverse Anderson Localization energyrelays to direct one or more sensory holographic energy propagationpaths including visual, acoustic, tactile or other energy domains.

In an embodiment, the seamless energy surface is configured withTransverse Anderson Localization energy relays that comprise two or morefirst sides for each second side to both receive and emit one or moreenergy domains simultaneously to provide bi-directional energypropagation throughout the system.

In an embodiment, the Transverse Anderson Localization energy relays areconfigured as loose coherent or flexible energy relay elements.

Considerations for 4D Plenoptic Functions Selective Propagation ofEnergy Through Holographic Waveguide Arrays

As discussed above and herein throughout, a light field display systemgenerally includes an energy source (e.g., illumination source) and aseamless energy surface configured with sufficient energy locationdensity as articulated in the above discussion. A plurality of relayelements may be used to relay energy from the energy devices to theseamless energy surface. Once energy has been delivered to the seamlessenergy surface with the requisite energy location density, the energycan be propagated in accordance with a 4D plenoptic function through adisclosed energy waveguide system. As will be appreciated by one ofordinary skill in the art, a 4D plenoptic function is well known in theart and will not be elaborated further herein.

The energy waveguide system selectively propagates energy through aplurality of energy locations along the seamless energy surfacerepresenting the spatial coordinate of the 4D plenoptic function with astructure configured to alter an angular direction of the energy wavespassing through representing the angular component of the 4D plenopticfunction, wherein the energy waves propagated may converge in space inaccordance with a plurality of propagation paths directed by the 4Dplenoptic function.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6 illustrating an example of light fieldenergy surface in 4D image space in accordance with a 4D plenopticfunction. The figure shows ray traces of an energy surface 600 to aviewer 620 in describing how the rays of energy converge in space 630from various positions within the viewing volume. As shown, eachwaveguide element 610 defines four dimensions of information describingenergy propagation 640 through the energy surface 600. Two spatialdimensions (herein referred to as x and y) are the physical plurality ofenergy locations that can be viewed in image space, and the angularcomponents theta and phi (herein referred to as u and v), which isviewed in virtual space when projected through the energy waveguidearray. In general, and in accordance with a 4D plenoptic function, theplurality of waveguides (e.g., lenslets) are able to direct an energylocation from the x, y dimension to a unique location in virtual space,along a direction defined by the u, v angular component, in forming theholographic or light field system described herein.

However, one skilled in the art will understand that a significantchallenge to light field and holographic display technologies arisesfrom uncontrolled propagation of energy due designs that have notaccurately accounted for any of diffraction, scatter, diffusion, angulardirection, calibration, focus, collimation, curvature, uniformity,element cross-talk, as well as a multitude of other parameters thatcontribute to decreased effective resolution as well as an inability toaccurately converge energy with sufficient fidelity.

In an embodiment, an approach to selective energy propagation foraddressing challenges associated with holographic display may includeenergy inhibiting elements and substantially filling waveguide apertureswith near-collimated energy into an environment defined by a 4Dplenoptic function.

In an embodiment, an array of energy waveguides may define a pluralityof energy propagation paths for each waveguide element configured toextend through and substantially fill the waveguide element's effectiveaperture in unique directions defined by a prescribed 4D function to aplurality of energy locations along a seamless energy surface inhibitedby one or more elements positioned to limit propagation of each energylocation to only pass through a single waveguide element.

In an embodiment, multiple energy domains may be configured within asingle, or between multiple energy waveguides to direct one or moresensory holographic energy propagations including visual, acoustic,tactile or other energy domains.

In an embodiment, the energy waveguides and seamless energy surface areconfigured to both receive and emit one or more energy domains toprovide bi-directional energy propagation throughout the system.

In an embodiment, the energy waveguides are configured to propagatenon-linear or non-regular distributions of energy, includingnon-transmitting void regions, leveraging digitally encoded,diffractive, refractive, reflective, grin, holographic, Fresnel, or thelike waveguide configurations for any seamless energy surfaceorientation including wall, table, floor, ceiling, room, or othergeometry based environments. In an additional embodiment, an energywaveguide element may be configured to produce various geometries thatprovide any surface profile and/or tabletop viewing allowing users toview holographic imagery from all around the energy surface in a360-degree configuration.

In an embodiment, the energy waveguide array elements may be reflectivesurfaces and the arrangement of the elements may be hexagonal, square,irregular, semi-regular, curved, non-planar, spherical, cylindrical,tilted regular, tilted irregular, spatially varying and/ormulti-layered.

For any component within the seamless energy surface, waveguide, orrelay components may include, but not limited to, optical fiber,silicon, glass, polymer, optical relays, diffractive, holographic,refractive, or reflective elements, optical face plates, energycombiners, beam splitters, prisms, polarization elements, spatial lightmodulators, active pixels, liquid crystal cells, transparent displays,or any similar materials exhibiting Anderson localization or totalinternal reflection.

Realizing the Holodeck Aggregation of Bi-Directional Seamless EnergySurface Systems to Stimulate Human Sensory Receptors Within HolographicEnvironments

It is possible to construct large-scale environments of seamless energysurface systems by tiling, fusing, bonding, attaching, and/or stitchingmultiple seamless energy surfaces together forming arbitrary sizes,shapes, contours or form-factors including entire rooms. Each energysurface system may comprise an assembly having a base structure, energysurface, relays, waveguide, devices, and electronics, collectivelyconfigured for bi-directional holographic energy propagation, emission,reflection, or sensing.

In an embodiment, an environment of tiled seamless energy systems areaggregated to form large seamless planar or curved walls includinginstallations comprising up to all surfaces in a given environment, andconfigured as any combination of seamless, discontinuous planar,faceted, curved, cylindrical, spherical, geometric, or non-regulargeometries.

In an embodiment, aggregated tiles of planar surfaces form wall-sizedsystems for theatrical or venue-based holographic entertainment. In anembodiment, aggregated tiles of planar surfaces cover a room with fourto six walls including both ceiling and floor for cave-based holographicinstallations. In an embodiment, aggregated tiles of curved surfacesproduce a cylindrical seamless environment for immersive holographicinstallations. In an embodiment, aggregated tiles of seamless sphericalsurfaces form a holographic dome for immersive Holodeck-basedexperiences.

In an embodiment, aggregates tiles of seamless curved energy waveguidesprovide mechanical edges following the precise pattern along theboundary of energy inhibiting elements within the energy waveguidestructure to bond, align, or fuse the adjacent tiled mechanical edges ofthe adjacent waveguide surfaces, resulting in a modular and seamlessenergy waveguide system.

In a further embodiment of an aggregated tiled environment, energy ispropagated bi-directionally for multiple simultaneous energy domains. Inan additional embodiment, the energy surface provides the ability toboth display and capture simultaneously from the same energy surfacewith waveguides designed such that light field data may be projected byan illumination source through the waveguide and simultaneously receivedthrough the same energy surface. In an additional embodiment, additionaldepth sensing and active scanning technologies may be leveraged to allowfor the interaction between the energy propagation and the viewer incorrect world coordinates. In an additional embodiment, the energysurface and waveguide are operable to emit, reflect or convergefrequencies to induce tactile sensation or volumetric haptic feedback.In some embodiments, any combination of bi-directional energypropagation and aggregated surfaces are possible.

In an embodiment, the system comprises an energy waveguide capable ofbi-directional emission and sensing of energy through the energy surfacewith one or more energy devices independently paired withtwo-or-more-path energy combiners to pair at least two energy devices tothe same portion of the seamless energy surface, or one or more energydevices are secured behind the energy surface, proximate to anadditional component secured to the base structure, or to a location infront and outside of the FOV of the waveguide for off-axis direct orreflective projection or sensing, and the resulting energy surfaceprovides for bi-directional transmission of energy allowing thewaveguide to converge energy, a first device to emit energy and a seconddevice to sense energy, and where the information is processed toperform computer vision related tasks including, but not limited to, 4Dplenoptic eye and retinal tracking or sensing of interference withinpropagated energy patterns, depth estimation, proximity, motiontracking, image, color, or sound formation, or other energy frequencyanalysis. In an additional embodiment, the tracked positions activelycalculate and modify positions of energy based upon the interferencebetween the bi-directional captured data and projection information.

In some embodiments, a plurality of combinations of three energy devicescomprising an ultrasonic sensor, a visible electromagnetic display, andan ultrasonic emitting device are configured together for each of threefirst relay surfaces propagating energy combined into a single secondenergy relay surface with each of the three first surfaces comprisingengineered properties specific to each device's energy domain, and twoengineered waveguide elements configured for ultrasonic andelectromagnetic energy respectively to provide the ability to direct andconverge each device's energy independently and substantially unaffectedby the other waveguide elements that are configured for a separateenergy domain.

In some embodiments, disclosed is a calibration procedure to enableefficient manufacturing to remove system artifacts and produce ageometric mapping of the resultant energy surface for use withencoding/decoding technologies as well as dedicated integrated systemsfor the conversion of data into calibrated information appropriate forenergy propagation based upon the calibrated configuration files.

In some embodiments, additional energy waveguides in series and one ormore energy devices may be integrated into a system to produce opaqueholographic pixels.

In some embodiments, additional waveguide elements may be integratedcomprising energy inhibiting elements, beam-splitters, prisms, activeparallax barriers or polarization technologies in order to providespatial and/or angular resolutions greater than the diameter of thewaveguide or for other super-resolution purposes.

In some embodiments, the disclosed energy system may also be configuredas a wearable bi-directional device, such as virtual reality (VR) oraugmented reality (AR). In other embodiments, the energy system mayinclude adjustment optical element(s) that cause the displayed orreceived energy to be focused proximate to a determined plane in spacefor a viewer. In some embodiments, the waveguide array may beincorporated to holographic head-mounted-display. In other embodiments,the system may include multiple optical paths to allow for the viewer tosee both the energy system and a real-world environment (e.g.,transparent holographic display). In these instances, the system may bepresented as near field in addition to other methods.

In some embodiments, the transmission of data comprises encodingprocesses with selectable or variable compression ratios that receive anarbitrary dataset of information and metadata; analyze said dataset andreceive or assign material properties, vectors, surface IDs, new pixeldata forming a more sparse dataset, and wherein the received data maycomprise: 2D, stereoscopic, multi-view, metadata, light field,holographic, geometry, vectors or vectorized metadata, and anencoder/decoder may provide the ability to convert the data in real-timeor off-line comprising image processing for: 2D; 2D plus depth, metadataor other vectorized information; stereoscopic, stereoscopic plus depth,metadata or other vectorized information; multi-view; multi-view plusdepth, metadata or other vectorized information; holographic; or lightfield content; through depth estimation algorithms, with or withoutdepth metadata; and an inverse ray tracing methodology appropriatelymaps the resulting converted data produced by inverse ray tracing fromthe various 2D, stereoscopic, multi-view, volumetric, light field orholographic data into real world coordinates through a characterized 4Dplenoptic function. In these embodiments, the total data transmissiondesired may be multiple orders of magnitudes less transmittedinformation than the raw light field dataset.

System and Methods for Production of Transverse Anderson LocalizationEnergy Relays

While the Anderson localization principle was introduced in the 1950s,it wasn't until recent technological breakthroughs in materials andprocesses that allowed the principle to be explored practically inoptical transport. Transverse Anderson localization is the propagationof a wave transported through a transversely disordered butlongitudinally invariant material without diffusion of the wave in thetransverse plane.

Within the prior art, Transverse Anderson localization has been observedthrough experimentation in which a fiber optic face plate is fabricatedthrough drawing millions of individual strands of fiber with differentrefractive index (RI) that were mixed randomly and fused together. Whenan input beam is scanned across one of the surfaces of the face plate,the output beam on the opposite surface follows the transverse positionof the input beam. Since Anderson localization exhibits in disorderedmediums an absence of diffusion of waves, some of the fundamentalphysics are different when compared to ordered optical fiber relays.This implies that the effect of the optical fibers that produce theAnderson localization phenomena are less impacted by total internalreflection than by the randomization of between multiple-scatteringpaths where wave interference can completely limit the propagation inthe transverse orientation while continuing in the longitudinal path.

In an embodiment, it may be possible for Transverse AndersonLocalization materials to transport light as well as, or better than,the highest quality commercially available multimode glass image fiberswith a higher MTF. With multimode and multicore optical fibers, therelayed images are intrinsically pixelated due to the properties oftotal internal reflection of the discrete array of cores where anycross-talk between cores will reduce MTF and increase blurring. Theresulting imagery produced with multicore optical fiber tends to have aresidual fixed noise fiber pattern, as illustrated in FIG. 5A. Bycontrast, FIG. 5B illustrates the same relayed image through an examplematerial sample that exhibits the properties of the Transverse AndersonLocalization principle where the noise pattern appears much more like agrain structure than a fixed fiber pattern.

Another advantage to optical relays that exhibit the Andersonlocalization phenomena is that it they can be fabricated from a polymermaterial, resulting in reduced cost and weight. A similar optical gradematerial, generally made of glass or other similar materials, may costten to a hundred (or more) times more than the cost of the samedimension of material generated with polymers. Further, the weight ofthe polymer relay optics can be 10-100× less given that up to a majorityof the density of the material is air and other light weight plastics.For the avoidance of doubt, any material that exhibits the Andersonlocalization property may be included in this disclosure herein, even ifit does not meet the above cost and weight suggestions. As one skilledin the art will understand that the above suggestion is a singleembodiment that lends itself to significant commercial viabilities thatsimilar glass products exclude. Of additional benefit is that forTransverse Anderson Localization to work, optical fiber cladding may notbe needed, which for traditional multicore fiber optics is required toprevent the scatter of light between fibers, but simultaneously blocks aportion of the rays of light and thus reduces transmission by at leastthe core to clad ratio (e.g. a core to clad ratio of 70:30 will transmitat best 70% of received illumination).

Another benefit is the ability to produce many smaller parts that can bebonded or fused without seams as the material fundamentally has no edgesin the traditional sense and the merger of any two pieces is nearly thesame as generating the component as a singular piece depending on theprocess to merge the two or more pieces together. For large scaleapplications, this is a significant benefit for the ability tomanufacturer without massive infrastructure or tooling costs, and itprovides the ability to generate single pieces of material that wouldotherwise be impossible with other methods. Traditional plastic opticalfibers have some of these benefits but due to the cladding, generallystill involve a seam line of some distances.

The present disclosure includes methods of manufacturing materialsexhibiting the Transverse Anderson Localization phenomena. A process isproposed to construct relays of electromagnetic energy, acoustic energy,or other types of energy using building blocks that consist of one ormore component engineered structures (CES). The term CES refers to abuilding block component with specific engineered properties (EP) thatinclude, but are not limited to, material type, size, shape, refractiveindex, center-of-mass, charge, weight, absorption, magnetic moment,among other properties. The size scale of the CES may be on the order ofwavelength of the energy wave being relayed, and can vary across themilli-scale, the micro-scale, or the nano-scale. The other EP's are alsohighly dependent on the wavelength of the energy wave.

Transverse Anderson Localization is a general wave phenomenon thatapplies to the transport of electromagnetic waves, acoustic waves,quantum waves, energy waves, among others. The one or more buildingblock structures required to form an energy wave relay that exhibitsTransverse Anderson Localization each have a size that is on the orderof the corresponding wavelength. Another critical parameter for thebuilding blocks is the speed of the energy wave in the materials usedfor those building blocks, which includes refractive index forelectromagnetic waves, and acoustic impedance for acoustic waves. Forexample, the building block sizes and refractive indices can vary toaccommodate any frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-raysto radio waves.

For this reason, discussions in this disclosure about optical relays canbe generalized to not only the full electromagnetic spectrum, but toacoustical energy and other types of energy. For this reason, the use ofthe terms energy source, energy surface, and energy relay will be usedoften, even if the discussion is focused on one particular form ofenergy such as the visible electromagnetic spectrum.

For the avoidance of doubt, the material quantities, process, types,refractive index, and the like are merely exemplary and any opticalmaterial that exhibits the Anderson localization property is includedherein. Further, any use of disordered materials and processes isincluded herein.

It should be noted that the principles of optical design noted in thisdisclosure apply generally to all forms of energy relays, and the designimplementations chosen for specific products, markets, form factors,mounting, etc. may or may not need to address these geometries but forthe purposes of simplicity, any approach disclosed is inclusive of allpotential energy relay materials.

In one embodiment, for the relay of visible electromagnetic energy, thesize of the CES should be on the order of 1 micron. The materials usedfor the CES can be any optical material that exhibits the opticalqualities desired to include, but not limited to, glass, plastic, resinand the like. The index of refraction of the materials are higher than1, and if two CES types are chosen, the difference in refractive indexbecomes a key design parameter. The aspect ratio of the material may bechosen to be elongated, in order to assist wave propagation in alongitudinal direction.

The formation of a CES may be completed as a destructive process thattakes formed materials and cuts the pieces into a desired shapedformation or any other method known in the art, or additive, where theCES may be grown, printed, formed, melted, or produced in any othermethod known in the art. Additive and destructive processes may becombined for further control over fabrication. These pieces are nowconstructed to a specified structure size and shape.

In one embodiment, for electromagnetic energy relays, it may be possibleto use optical grade bonding agents, epoxies, or other known opticalmaterials that may start as a liquid and form an optical grade solidstructure through various means including but not limited to UV, heat,time, among other processing parameters. In another embodiment, thebonding agent is not cured or is made of index matching oils forflexible applications. Bonding agent may be applied to solid structuresand non-curing oils or optical liquids. These materials may exhibitcertain refractive index (RI) properties. The bonding agent needs tomatch the RI of either CES material type 1 or CES material type 2. Inone embodiment, the RI of this optical bonding agent is 1.59, the sameas PS. In a second embodiment, the RI of this optical bonding agent is1.49, the same as PMMA.

In one embodiment, for energy waves, the bonding agent may be mixed intoa blend of CES material type 1 and CES material type 2 in order toeffectively cancel out the RI of the material that the bonding agent RImatches. For exemplary purposes only, if CES types PS and PMMA are used,and PS matches the RI of the bonding agent, the result is that PS nowacts as a spacer to ensure randomness between PMMA and the bondingagent. Without the presence of the PS, it may be possible that therewill not be sufficient randomization between PMMA and the RI of bondingagent. The bonding agent may be thoroughly intermixed such that noregions are unsaturated which may require a certain amount of time forsaturation and desired viscous properties. Additional constant agitationmay be implemented to ensure the appropriate mixture of the materials tocounteract any separation that may occur due to various densities ofmaterials or other material properties.

It may be required to perform this process in a vacuum or in a chamberto evacuate any air bubbles that may form. An additional methodology maybe to introduce vibration during the curing process.

An alternate method provides for three or more CES with additional formcharacteristics and EPs.

In one embodiment, for electromagnetic energy relays, an additionalmethod provides for only a single CES to be used with only the bondingagent, where the RI of the CES and the bonding agent differ, andsufficient intermixing occurs between the single CES and the bondingagent.

An additional method provides for any number of CESs and includes theintentional introduction of air bubbles.

In one embodiment, for electromagnetic energy relays, a method providesfor multiple bonding agents with independent desired RIs, and a processto intermix the zero, one, or more CES's as they cure either separatelyor together to allow for the formation of a completely intermixedstructure. Two or more separate curing methodologies may be leveraged toallow for the ability to cure and intermix at different intervals withdifferent tooling and procedural methodologies. In one embodiment, a UVcure epoxy with a RI of 1.49 is intermixed with a heat cure second epoxywith a RI of 1.59 where constant agitation of the materials isprovisioned with alternating heat and UV treatments with only sufficientduration to begin to see the formation of solid structures from withinthe larger mixture, but not long enough for any large particles to form,until such time that no agitation can be continued once the curingprocess has nearly completed, whereupon the curing processes areimplemented simultaneously to completely bond the materials together. Ina second embodiment, CES with a RI of 1.49 are added. In a thirdembodiment, CES with both a RI of 1.49 and 1.59 both added.

In another embodiment, for electromagnetic energy relays, glass andplastic materials are intermixed based upon their respective RIproperties.

In an additional embodiment, the cured mixture is formed in a mold andafter curing is cut and polished. In another embodiment, the materialsleveraged will re-liquefy with heat and are cured in a first shape andthen pulled into a second shape to include, but not limited to, tapersor bends.

FIG. 7A illustrates a cutaway view of a flexible implementation 70 of arelay exhibiting the Transverse Anderson Localization approach using CESmaterial type 1 (72) and CES material type 2 (74) with intermixing oilor liquid 76 and with the possible use of end cap relays 79 to relay theenergy waves from a first surface 77 to a second surface 77 on eitherend of the relay within a flexible tubing enclosure 78 in accordancewith one embodiment of the present disclosure. The CES material type 1(72) and CES material type 2 (74) both have the engineered property ofbeing elongated—in this embodiment, the shape is elliptical, but anyother elongated or engineered shape such as cylindrical or stranded isalso possible. The elongated shape allows for channels of minimumengineered property variation 75.

For an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays,implementation 70 may have the bonding agent replaced with a refractiveindex matching oil 76 with a refractive index that matches CES materialtype 2 (74) and placed into the flexible tubing enclosure 78 to maintainflexibility of the mixture of CES material type 1 and CES material 2,and the end caps 79 would be solid optical relays to ensure that animage can be relayed from one surface of an end cap to the other. Theelongated shape of the CES materials allows channels of minimumrefractive index variation 75.

Multiple instances of 70 can be interlaced into a single surface inorder to form a relay combiner in solid or flexible form.

In one embodiment, for visible electromagnetic energy relays, severalinstances of 70 may each be connected on one end to a display deviceshowing only one of many specific tiles of an image, with the other endof the optical relay placed in a regular mosaic, arranged in such a wayto display the full image with no noticeable seams. Due to theproperties of the CES materials, it is additionally possible to fusemultiple optical relays within the mosaic together.

FIG. 7B illustrates a cutaway view of a rigid implementation 750 of aCES Transverse Anderson Localization energy relay. CES material type 1(72) and CES material type 2 (74) are intermixed with bonding agent 753which matches the index of refraction of material 2 (74). It is possibleto use optional relay end caps 79 to relay the energy wave from thefirst surface 77 to a second surface 77 within the enclosure 754. TheCES material type 1 (72) and CES material type 2 (74) both have theengineered property of being elongated—in this embodiment, the shape iselliptical, but any other elongated or engineered shape such ascylindrical or stranded is also possible. Also shown in FIG. 7B is apath of minimum engineered property variation 75 along the longitudinaldirection, which assists the energy wave propagation in this directionfrom one end cap surface 77 to the other end cap surface 77.

The initial configuration and alignment of the CESs can be done withmechanical placement, or by exploiting the EP of the materials,including but not limited to: electric charge, which when applied to acolloid of CESs in a liquid can result in colloidal crystal formation;magnetic moments which can help order CESs containing trace amounts offerromagnetic materials, or relative weight of the CESs used, which withgravity helps to create layers within the bonding liquid prior tocuring.

In one embodiment, for electromagnetic energy relays, the implementationdepicted in FIG. 7B would have the bonding agent 753 matching the indexof refraction of CES material type 2 (74), the optional end caps 79would be solid optical relays to ensure that an image can be relayedfrom one surface of an end cap to the other, and the critical EP withminimal longitudinal variation would be refractive index, creatingchannels 75 which would assist the propagation of localizedelectromagnetic waves.

FIG. 7B depicts a method comprising: (a) providing one or more of afirst CES, the first CES having a specific set of EPs {a₀, b₀, c₀ . . .}; (b) providing one or more N CES, denoted CES_(i), each having thecorresponding EPs {a_(i), b_(i), c_(i) . . . }, wherein i is 1 orgreater; (c) forming a medium using the one or more of the first CES,and the one or more of the CES_(i), the forming step randomizing atleast one EP (across a₀ and a_(i)) along a first plane of the mediumresulting in a variability of that EP (across a₀ and a_(i)) denoted V1,with the combined EP values of a different type (b₀ and b_(i)) inducingthe spatial variability of the same EP (across a₀ and a_(i)) along asecond plane of the medium, this variability denoted V2, wherein thesecond plane is different from the first plane, and wherein thevariability in this second plane V2 is lower than the variability V1;and (d) forming an assembly using the medium such that the first planeof the medium is the transverse orientation 752 of the assembly and thesecond plane of the medium is the longitudinal orientation 751 of theenergy relay assembly, wherein energy waves propagating to or from anentrance to an exit of the energy relay assembly have higher transportefficiency in the longitudinal orientation 751 versus the transverseorientation 752 and are spatially localized in the transverseorientation 752 due to the engineered properties, and wherein the EP ofeach material as formed in the medium may facilitate the reduction ofunwanted diffusion or scatter of energy waves through the assembly.

A method of forming a bi-directional transverse Anderson localizationenergy relays with engineered structures in view of FIGS. 7A-7Bincludes: (a) providing one or more of a first component engineeredstructure, the first component engineered structure having a first setof engineered properties, and (b) providing one or more of a secondcomponent engineered structure, the second component engineeredstructure having a second set of engineered properties, where both thefirst component engineered structure and the second component engineeredstructure have at least two common engineered properties, denoted by afirst engineered property and a second engineered property.

Next, in this embodiment, the method includes (c) forming a medium usingthe one or more of the first component engineered structure and the oneor more of the second component engineered structure, the forming steprandomizes the first engineered property in a first plane of the mediumresulting in a first variability of that engineered property in thatplane, with the values of the second engineered property allowing for avariation of the first engineered property in a second plane of themedium, where the variation of the first engineered property in thesecond plane is less than the variation of the first engineered propertyin the first plane.

In one embodiment, the first engineered property that is common to boththe first component engineered structure and the second componentengineered structure is index of refraction, and the second engineeredproperty that is common to both the first component engineered structureand the second component engineered structure is shape, and the formingstep (c) randomizes the refractive index of the first componentengineered structure and the refractive index of the second componentengineered structure along a first plane of the medium resulting in afirst variability in index of refraction, with the combined geometry ofthe shapes of the first component engineered structure and the secondcomponent engineered structure resulting in a variation in index ofrefraction in the second plane of the medium, where the variation of theindex of refraction in the second plane is less than the variation ofindex of refraction in the first plane of the medium.

In one embodiment, the method further includes (d) forming an assemblyusing the medium such that the first plane of the medium extends alongthe transverse orientation of the assembly and the second plane of themedium extends along the longitudinal orientation of the assembly, whereenergy waves propagating through the assembly have higher transportefficiency in the longitudinal orientation versus the transverseorientation and are spatially localized in the transverse orientationdue to the first engineered property and the second engineered property.

In some embodiments, the forming steps (c) or (d) includes forming theassembly into a layered, concentric, cylindrical configuration or arolled, spiral configuration or other assembly configurations requiredfor optical prescriptions defining the formation of the assembly of theone or more first component engineered structure and the one or moresecond component engineered structure in predefined volumes along atleast one of the transverse orientation and the longitudinal orientationthereby resulting in one or more gradients between the first order ofrefractive index and the second order of refractive index with respectto location throughout the medium.

In other embodiments, each of the forming steps (c) and (d) includes atleast one of forming by intermixing, curing, bonding, UV exposure,fusing, machining, laser cutting, melting, polymerizing, etching,engraving, 3D printing, CNCing, lithographic processing, metallization,liquefying, deposition, ink-jet printing, laser forming, opticalforming, perforating, layering, heating, cooling, ordering, disordering,polishing, obliterating, cutting, material removing, compressing,pressurizing, vacuuming, gravitational forces and other processingmethods.

In yet another embodiment, the method further includes (e) processingthe assembly by forming, molding or machining to create at least one ofcomplex or formed shapes, curved or slanted surfaces, optical elements,gradient index lenses, diffractive optics, optical relay, optical taperand other geometric configurations or optical devices.

In an embodiment, the properties of the engineered structures of steps(a) and (b) and the formed medium of step (c) cumulatively combine toexhibit the properties of Transverse Anderson Localization.

In some embodiments, the forming step (c) includes forming with at leastone of: (i) an additive process of the first component engineeredstructure to the second component engineered structure; (ii) asubtractive process of the first component engineered structure toproduce voids or an inverse structure to form with the second componentengineered structure; (iii) an additive process of the second componentengineered structure to the first component engineered structure; or(iv) a subtractive process of the second component engineered structureto produce voids or an inverse structure to form with the firstcomponent engineered structure.

In one embodiment, each of the providing steps (a) and (b) includes theone or more of the first component engineered structure and the one ormore of the second component engineered structure being in at least oneof liquid, gas or solid form. In another embodiment, each of theproviding steps (a) and (b) includes the one or more of the firstcomponent engineered structure and the one or more of the secondcomponent engineered structure being of at least one of polymericmaterial, and where each of the first refractive index and the secondrefractive index being greater than 1. In one embodiment, each of theproviding steps (a) and (b) includes the one or more of the firstcomponent engineered structure and the one or more of the secondcomponent engineered structure, having one or more of first componentengineered structure dimensions differing in a first and second plane,and one or more of second component engineered structure dimensionsdiffering in a first and second plane, where one or more of thestructure dimensions of the second plane are different than the firstplane, and the structure dimension of the first plane are less than fourtimes the wavelength of visible light.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, FIG. 7depicts a method comprising: (a) providing one or more of a first CESwith EP of a first refractive index n₀, first shape s₀, and firstabsorptive optical quality b₀; (b) providing one or more N CES, eachCES_(i) having refractive index n_(i), shape s_(i), and absorptiveoptical quality b_(i), wherein i is 1 or greater; (c) forming a mediumusing the one or more of the first CES, and one or more of the CES_(i),the forming step randomizing the first refractive index n₀ and therefractive index n_(i) spatially along a first plane of the mediumresulting in a first refractive index variability denoted V1, with thecombined geometry of the shapes s₀ and s_(i) inducing a secondrefractive index variability along a second plane of the medium denotedV2, wherein the second plane is different from the first plane, andwherein the second refractive index variability V2 is lower than thefirst refractive index variability V1; and (d) forming an assembly usingthe medium such that the first plane of the medium is the transverseorientation of the assembly and the second plane of the medium is thelongitudinal orientation of the assembly, wherein energy wavespropagating to or from an entrance to an exit of the assembly havehigher transport efficiency in the longitudinal orientation versus thetransverse orientation as well as are spatially localized in thetransverse orientation due to the engineered properties and theresultant refractive index variability, and wherein the reflective,transmissive and absorptive optical quality of each material as formedin the medium may facilitate the reduction of unwanted diffusion orscatter of electromagnetic waves through the assembly.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, one or moreof the providing steps (a) and (b) may include the one or more of thefirst component engineered structure and the one or more of the N_(i)structure being an additive process including at least one of bondingagent, oil, epoxy, and other optical grade, adhesive materials orimmersion fluids.

In an embodiment, the forming step (c) may include forming the mediuminto a non-solid form, and wherein the forming step (d) includes formingthe assembly into a loose, coherent waveguide system having a flexiblehousing for receiving the non-solid form medium.

In an embodiment, the forming step (c) may include forming the mediuminto a liquid form, and wherein the forming step (d) includes formingthe assembly by directly depositing or applying liquid form medium.

In an embodiment, the forming steps (c) and (d) may include combiningtwo or more loose or fused mediums in varied orientations for forming atleast one of multiple entries or multiple exits of the assembly.

In an embodiment, the properties of the engineered structures and theformed medium may cumulatively combine to exhibit the properties ofTransverse Anderson Localization and the forming step may includeforming with at least one of: an additive process of the first componentengineered structure to the second component engineered structure; asubtractive process of the first component engineered structure toproduce voids or an inverse structure to form with the second componentengineered structure; an additive process of the second componentengineered structure to the first component engineered structure; or asubtractive process of the second component engineered structure toproduce voids or an inverse structure to form with the first componentengineered structure.

In an embodiment, one or more of the providing steps may include the oneor more of the first component engineered structure and the one or moreof the second component engineered structure being in at least one ofliquid, gas or solid form.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, one or moreof the providing steps may include the one or more of the firstcomponent engineered structure and the one or more of the secondcomponent engineered structure being of at least one of polymericmaterial, and wherein each of the first refractive index and the secondrefractive index being greater than 1.

In an embodiment, one or more of the providing steps may include the oneor more of the first component engineered structure and the one or moreof the second component engineered structure, having one or more offirst component engineered structure dimensions differing in a first andsecond plane, and one or more of second component engineered structuredimensions differing in a first and second plane, wherein one or more ofthe structure dimensions of the second plane are different than thefirst plane, and the structure dimension of the first plane are lessthan four times the wavelength of the relayed energy.

In an embodiment, one or more of the forming steps may include formingthe assembly into a layered, concentric, cylindrical configuration or arolled, spiral configuration or other assembly configurations requiredfor functional prescriptions defining the formation of the assembly ofthe one or more first CES and the one or more second CES in predefinedvolumes along at least one of the transverse orientation and thelongitudinal orientation thereby resulting in one or more gradients ofone or more EPs of the CESs used with respect to location throughout themedium.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, the formingsteps may yield a configuration required for optical prescription offocus, beam steering, diffraction, or the like, through the generationof one or more gradients of refractive index with respect to location inthe medium.

In an embodiment, one or more of the forming steps may at least one offorming by intermixing, curing, bonding, UV exposure, fusing, machining,laser cutting, melting, polymerizing, etching, engraving, 3D printing,CNCing, lithographic processing, metallization, liquefying, deposition,ink-jet printing, laser forming, optical forming, perforating, layering,heating, cooling, ordering, disordering, polishing, obliterating,cutting, material removing, compressing, pressurizing, vacuuming,gravitational forces, and other processing methods.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, the methodmay further comprise processing the assembly by forming, molding ormachining to create at least one of complex or formed shapes, curved orslanted surfaces, optical elements, gradient index lenses, diffractiveoptics, optical relay, optical taper and other geometric configurationsor optical devices.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, FIG. 8illustrates a cutaway view in the transverse plane the inclusion of aDEMA (dimensional extra mural absorption) CES, 80, along with CESmaterial types 72, 74 in the longitudinal direction of one exemplarymaterial at a given percentage of the overall mixture of the material,which controls stray light, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent disclosure for visible electromagnetic energy relays.

The additional CES materials that do not transmit light are added to themixture(s) to absorb random stray light, similar to EMA in traditionaloptical fiber technologies, only the absorbing materials are includedwithin a dimensional lattice and not contained within the longitudinaldimension, herein this material is called DEMA, 80. Leveraging thisapproach in the third dimension provides far more control than previousmethods of implementation where the stray light control is much morefully randomized than any other implementation that includes a strandedEMA that ultimately reduces overall light transmission by the percent ofthe area of the surface of all the optical relay components, whereas theDEMA is intermixed in the dimensional lattice that effectively controlsthe light transmission in the longitudinal direction without the samereduction of light in the transverse. The DEMA can be provided in anyratio of the overall mixture. In one embodiment, the DEMA is 1% of theoverall mixture of the material. In a second embodiment, the DEMA is 10%of the overall mixture of the material.

In an additional embodiment, the two or more materials are treated withheat and/or pressure to perform the bonding process and this may or maynot be completed with a mold or other similar forming process known inthe art. This may or may not be applied within a vacuum or a vibrationstage or the like to eliminate air bubbles during the melt process. Forexample, CES with material type PS and PMMA may be intermixed and thenplaced into an appropriate mold that is placed into a uniform heatdistribution environment capable of reaching the melting point of bothmaterials and cycled to and from the respective temperature withoutcausing damage/fractures due to exceeding the maximum heat elevation ordeclination per hour as dictated by the material properties.

For processes that require intermixing materials with additional liquidbonding agents, in consideration of the variable specific densities ofeach material, a process of constant rotation at a rate that preventsseparation of the materials may be required.

FIG. 9 illustrates one such method 90 to intermix one or more CESmaterial types 72, 74 within a two part mixture 98 independently witheach of the solutions 72, 74 at the optimum ratios within a system wherethe nozzles from chambers 94, 96 of each separate mixture meets at acentral point 97 to appropriately mix each part of the CES mixture 98together to form an ideal ratio of CES and bonding agent to allow forappropriate curing with all required engineered property ratiosmaintained within a single apparatus, in accordance with one embodimentof the present disclosure. A linked plunger 92 provides the ability tomix these materials 72, 74 together simultaneously without theadditional need for measurements or mixture.

An additional embodiment includes the ability to use a two-part mixturewhere each liquid contains one or more of CES materials individuallysuch that when mixed together, all materials are provided in the correctand appropriately saturated ratios. In one specific embodiment, bothintermixed materials are placed side by side with linked plungers orother methods for applying even pressure, and nozzles forcing both partsof the mixture to mix with even proportions such that when the plungeror other method for producing the pressure to mix both materialstogether is activated, the effective mixture includes the exact amountof each CES material as well as the appropriate mixture of the two-partmedium.

An additional embodiment provides the ability to create multiple bonded,formed, produced or otherwise materials and use chemical, heat or thelike processes to fuse or bond these individual elements together as ifthey had been produced simultaneously without separate processes tofacilitate mechanical requirements and practical processes.

FIG. 10 illustrates a process 100 wherein a mixture of CESs 72, 74 andUV sensitive bonding agents 103 are intermixed together in a mixingchamber 102 and an apparatus controls the release of the mixture of thematerials through a nozzle with a predetermined diameter and a highintensity UV laser 104 is focused on the solution near the exit of thenozzle where arbitrarily long threads 108 of the solid cured material106 may be formed wherein the longitudinal orientation of the threadexhibits CES ordering and the transverse orientation of the threadsexhibits CES disordering, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

An additional embodiment provides the ability to cure the mixture of CESmaterial types 72, 74 using epoxy or another bonding agent to includechemicals, heat or the like, and rapidly cure thin strands of themixture maintaining the longitudinal ordering and transverse disorderingat any desired diameter of thickness such that a single strand with anylength may be produced. An exemplary application of this includes a UVfast-cure epoxy intermixed with the appropriate ratio of CES materialtype 1 (72) and CES material type 2 (74) and a nozzle that distributesthe mixture at the appropriate diameter facilitated by a constantpressure for the controlled release of the mixture wherein the highintensity UV laser 104 is focused at the exit of the mixture such thatupon contact with the UV light, a solid is formed and the constantpressure of the material exiting the nozzle produces an arbitrary lengthstrand of the material. This process may be performed with any methodrequired to cure including time, temperature, chemicals and the like.FIG. 10 illustrates one exemplary implementation of this process. Itshould be noted that many of these materials exhibit limited sensitivityto UV light, so that either extremely high intensities are required forfast cure, or other implementations are introduced to perform thisfunction depending on the materials leveraged in the mixture.

In an embodiment of the above, multiple strands are collected togetherand fused together through methods known in the art including light,time, temperature, chemicals and the like.

An additional embodiment uses no additional bonding agents. This may ormay not be implemented in the presence of a gas or liquid in order tomaintain a loose ‘sand-like’ mixture of the CESs 72, 74 without theintroduction of air, but rather a different gas/liquid that may be moreappropriate to encourage the propagation of energy according to thetransverse Anderson localization principle. This may include one or moreadditional CES materials and may include one or more gasses/liquids.

This application may be performed within a vacuum or a sealedenvironment. With any implementation methodology, the randomization ofCESs is significantly increased from that of other implementations thatare the current state of the art forming significantly increaseddisordering in the final structure. Whether the liquid bonding materialcures into a solid or remains liquid, a three-dimensional lattice ofCESs are created with a geometry consistent with increased TransverseAnderson Localization of longitudinal energy waves as discussedpreviously.

There may be advantages of this approach where CES materials can beeffectively produced and mixed cost effectively and in bulk quantitieswithout the necessity for any custom fabrication processes required toarrange the material into an intermediate form factor.

Further, for processes that involve solid structures, the ability toform structures through molds or the like is extremely powerful forincreased efficiency of production and can result in sizes and shapesthat were previously not possible. It is also possible to premix thebonding agents with the CESs and can be painted onto any surface or aplethora of other potential implementation methodologies.

FIG. 11A illustrates a radially symmetric cylindrical building block 110composed of two alternating layers of CESs 72, 74, in accordance withone embodiment of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, it ispossible to fabricate diffractive, refractive, gradient index, binary,holographic or Fresnel-like structures by generating alternating layersof radially symmetric and non-uniform thicknesses of CESs 72, 74 with,for example, a refractive index difference of approximately 0.1. Thisvalue can vary depending on optical configuration. The fabricationprocess of such an element may leverage the principles of TransverseAnderson Localization or may leverage the techniques provided in thisdiscussion to produce two materials without explicit randomization. Theprescription for these elements may vary spatially in either thetransverse or longitudinal orientations and may include machined surfaceprofiles or non-uniform spacing between individual layers.

One such method provides the ability to simply cure bonding materialswith two or more differentiated EP's in an alternating methodology suchthat each layer forms around a previously cured region and growsradially to a defined diameter. This diameter may be constant, variable,or random depending on the requirements for the system. The cylinderscan be used as building blocks for more complex structures.

It is possible to build substructures of one or more CES by employingthe properties of a transient biaxial material such as, but not limitedto, biaxial polystyrene, where the molecules are frozen by rapid coolinginto stretched positions. Heating the material above a transitiontemperature will deactivate the transient state, causing the material toshrink, sometimes by a factor of two or more. The method comprises (a)providing one or more CES, (b) forming a medium by at least one of anadditive, subtractive, or isolated process, the additive processincludes adding at least one CES to a transient structure, thesubtractive process includes producing voids or an inverse structure ina transient structure to later form with at least one CES, and theisolated process includes engineering at least one transient structurein the absence or removal of addition of a CES, and (c) forming anassembly and deactivating the transient material inducing an increase ofmaterial property variation along a first plane of an assembly relativeto a decrease of material property variation along a second plane of anassembly to achieve Transverse Anderson Localization.

FIG. 11B shows the subtractive process 115 in which material is removedfrom a biaxial material and two CES materials 72, 74 are added to a holein a biaxially stretched material 1153, where there may or may not be abonding agent applied. The CESs 72, 74 may be simple microspheres thatare commercially available but each exhibit at least one critical EP.With relaxation of the biaxial material 1154 after bringing the entiresystem near the melting point of all materials within the biaxialmaterial, and contraction of the hole, the CES's 72, 74 dimensionsbecome elongated in one direction, and contracted in the other. Further,the spatial ordering of CESs 72, 74 has been slightly randomized butessentially preserved in such a way that the variation in EP is muchless along the direction of the elongation than in any orthogonaldirection.

In an additional embodiment of FIG. 11B, the biaxially stretchedmaterial is subtractively formed to produce a plurality of holes with afirst average diameter and a first average density spacing, and then twoCESs 72, 74 are added before or after relaxing the biaxial material toresult in a second average diameter and a second average densityspacing, wherein the second average density spacing is significantlyincreased from the first average density spacing and the second averagediameter is significantly lower than the first average diameter, and thethickness of the formed medium has increased resulting in decreasedvariation in the EP in the longitudinal orientation.

In an embodiment, the method may further comprise (d) generating severalassemblies of step (c) with different EPs such as dimensions, size,refractive index, and volume, and generating several compound formedmedium from step b; (e) pairing an assembly and a compound-formed mediumtogether to form a unit collectively called a sub-structure, where oneor more sub-structures can have one or more EP variations for a firstand second plane; (f) generating additional variation with the additionof one or more N CES, each denoted CES_(i) where i is 1 or greater, (g)forming a medium of one or more sub-structures and CES_(i), where theforming step randomizes one critical EP parameter EP_(c) (such as indexof refraction for the embodiment of electromagnetic waves), along theone or more sub-structure's first plane resulting in a first compoundmedium EP_(c) variability, with a different EP (such as shape) inducinga second compound medium EP_(c) variability along the one or moresub-structure's second plane, wherein the one or more sub-structure'ssecond plane is different from the one or more sub-structure's firstplane, and wherein the second compound medium EP_(c) variability islower than the first compound medium EP_(c) variability due to the oneor more sub-structure EP and the CES_(i) engineered property; and (h)forming a compound assembly using the compound medium such that the oneor more sub-structure's first plane is the transverse orientation of thecompound assembly and the one or more sub-structure's second plane isthe longitudinal orientation of the compound assembly, wherein energywaves propagating to or from an entrance to an exit of the compoundassembly have higher transport efficiency in the longitudinalorientation versus the transverse orientation and are spatiallylocalized in the transverse orientation due to the compound engineeredproperties and the resultant compound EP_(c) variability.

In an embodiment, step (c) or step (h) may include heating or other formof processing to deactivate the transient molecular state of thematerials within the assembly, wherein the arrangement, density, and EPof the transient materials are varied in at least one of the transverseorientation or the longitudinal orientation, thereby causing theassembly during heat treatment or other processing to naturally taper orcause dimensional variations along at least one of the transverseorientation or the longitudinal orientation of the assembly to producevarious energy relay geometries that would have otherwise requiredcomplex manufacturing processes that maintain the appropriate orderingfor energy wave transport efficiency.

FIG. 12 illustrates a perspective view 120 of a cylindrical structurewith 20 layers of different CESs, where one or more critical EPs mayvary from layer to layer, and where layers may vary in thickness. Thestructure can be built to implement a steering of the energy wavethrough the material.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, it ispossible to leverage multiple materials with multiple refractive indicesthat may or may not be of the same thickness per region as the materialradiates from the center of the optical material. With this method, itis possible to leverage the optical properties of the material to altersteer angles of light in predetermined ways based upon the materialproperties per designed region. FIG. 12 illustrates one such embodimentwherein 20 materials with different refractive indices RI1-RI20 areimplemented such that there is an input ray 122 and an output ray 124that alters as a function of the EP of each of the materials containedwithin the optical relay element.

The structure of FIG. 12 can be built up in layers. The outside surfaceof each of the previously layered materials can be coated with a CES_(i)layer with a dimension at or below the desired thickness of each radiallayer in combination with a bonding material with the appropriate set ofEPs. When the bonding agent is nearly cured and tacky to the touch, thenext layer may be formed by applying the next CES_(i+1) layer as a coatto the previous bonding agent layer until dry. It is also a potentialimplementation that this manufacturing process requires constantrotation of the optical build up to ensure a consistent radiallyconcentric structure is formed.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, the criticalengineered property is refractive index (RI), and the CESs are leveragedwith alternating RIs to coat the outside of each of the previouslylayered materials with a shape diameter at or below the desiredthickness of each radial layer in combination with a bonding material of(near) identical RI properties. When the bonding agent is nearly curedand tacky to the touch, the next layer of a second (or greater) RImaterial is applied to coat the previous bonding agent with a new layeruntil dry. It is also a potential implementation that this manufacturingprocess requires constant rotation of the optical build up to ensure aconsistent radially concentric structure is formed and the structurebegins with a center optical ‘core’ matching one of the two materialswith the same or similar thickness to the desired thickness per radiallayer. By applying the matched RI bonding agent to each microspherelayer, the CES effectively become optically transparent spacers and thebonding agent is used to consistently form a material for the nextconcentric layer to bond to. In one such embodiment, each microsphere isapproximately 1 um in diameter with a first RI of 1.49 and a firstbonding agent with RI of 1.49 and a second microsphere with a second RIof 1.59 and a second bonding agent with an RI of 1.59 and the completediameter of the constructed radially concentric materials forms a 60 mmdiameter optical material.

In a further embodiment of the previously disclosed radially concentricmicrosphere build up methodology, a second approach is described whereinthe bonding agents are of the second (or more) RI to form a disorderedAnderson localization approach vs. the previously disclosed orderedapproach. In this fashion, it is possible to then randomize thetransmission of the rays of light to increase the theoretical resolutionof the optical system.

FIG. 13 illustrates perspective views for a spiral production process130 which leverages sheets of two CESs 72, 74, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure. A CES material type 72 or 74 isarranged to lie end-to-end and then bonded into sheets 132 or 134,respectively, and produced with a predetermined thickness. An additionalmethodology involves a spiral fabrication process where sheets 132 and134 are layered and bonded together to form a single sheet 753 that hasa first set of critical EPs on one side and a second set of critical EPson the other side. These materials are then rolled in a spiral until aspecified diameter is reached leveraging various mechanical and/orfabrication methods to produce the resultant energy relay geometry.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, the spiralapproach involves the use of CESs with a predetermined thickness and abonding agent the same RI as one of the two CESs 72, 74 to form sheetsof intermixed CESs and bonding agents wherein the CESs are leveraged todetermine sheet thickness and the bonding agents are leveraged to holdthe CESs together in a flexible sheet, but not to exceed the desiredthickness of the individual layers. This is repeated for a second (ormore) CES with a second RI.

Once the individual sheets are fabricated at a predetermined length (thelength of each of the resultant energy relay elements) and width (theend thickness or diameter after spiraling both materials together), athin layer of the bonding agent with one or more critical EPs referredto as EP 1 is applied to 132, followed by the mating of 134 to align to132 without the bonding agent being allowed to cure. 134 then has abonding agent with one or more EPs referred to as EP 2 applied in a thinlayer on top of the assembly and not yet cured. The resulting stack of132, bonding agent with EP 1, 134, and bonding agent with EP 2 is thenrolled in a spiral to form the resulting energy relay element, andthrough this process any excess bonding agent material is forced out ofeither of the two open ends before final curing.

It is additionally possible for any of the above methods to produce thesheets in a non-uniform thickness to provide a variable thickness to theconcentric rings for specific functional purposes.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, where thecritical engineered property is refractive index, it is possible tocalculate the directionality of each optical ray through a determinedthickness of produced material, and then determine the relativethickness for the concentric rings to steer certain rays at certainangles depending on the optical requirements. A wedge approach to thesheet will result in a constantly increasing thickness to each radialring, or a non-uniform thickness across the sheet will produce randomchanges in thickness of the radial rings.

As an alternative to creating two sheets, each one containing a singleCES and a single bonding agent, a single sheet layer 135 can be createdwhich contains two or more CESs 72, 74 arranged in an interlacedend-to-end configuration 135 as shown in FIG. 13. A bonding agent withEP 1 is used to hold the two materials together. The same bonding agent,or a different one with EP 2, can be applied to the sheet when it isrolled into a spiral to form the resulting energy relay element, andthrough this process any excess bonding agent material is forced out ofeither of the two open ends.

An additional method of the above where the same process is followed,but the sheets are made of mismatched CES material type 1 to bondingagent material 2 and vice versa to encourage the Transverse AndersonLocalization phenomena.

An embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays exists for allof the above radially symmetrical or spiraled optical materials wherethe optical elements that are formed are sliced into thin cylinders, andmay be aligned in an array, as implementations of a diffractive lensthat allow for the appropriate steering of the rays of light as requiredfor a specific optical configuration.

FIG. 14 illustrates perspective views of a repeating pattern 140 oftwenty CESs with a thickness that may or may not be the same per sheetspiraled into an energy relay structure wherein there is an input waveangle and an output wave angle that is a result of one or more differingEP of each region of material, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

In an embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays, 140 containstwenty refractive indices applied with thicknesses that may or may notbe the same per sheet spiraled into an optical relay structure that isable to steer an electromagnetic wave as a result of the differingrefractive index of each region of material, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

In an additional embodiment for visible electromagnetic energy relays,the refractive index of the material changes as a specific function ofradius from the center of the spiral. In this fashion, it is possible tofabricate a plurality of sheets of material as identified previouslywith a sequence of refractive indices as designed for a specific opticalfunction for steering rays of light through the optical relay element.This may additionally be placed into an array as previously disclosed orcut or polished or the like as discussed with other embodiments.

Further, it is possible to produce multiple optical elements from thisspiral or radial process and bond/fuse these together with any of themethods previously disclosed or known in the art forming a singularsurface with a determined optical element thickness, and then slice theentirety of the array into sheets for use on any Fresnel lenslet arrayor any other determined purpose.

The transverse diameter of one of the structures may be four times thewavelength of at least one of: (i) visible light and the material wavepropagation property is the refractive index; or (ii) ultrasonicfrequencies and the material wave propagation property is the acousticimpedance; or (iii) infrared light and the material wave propagationproperty is the refractive index; or (iv) acoustic waves, ultraviolet,x-rays, microwaves, radio waves, or mechanical energy.

In an embodiment, the transverse diameter of a first componentengineered structure and a second component engineered structure may bedesigned for two different energy domains. The aspect ratio of one ofthe structures may be greater in the longitudinal than the transverseorientation. The plurality of structures may stack together in apartially overlapping and primarily longitudinal orientation. In anembodiment, a first component engineered structure may be engineered toexhibit a surface profile that is the inverse shape of a secondcomponent engineered structure, one of the structures may include voids,and one of the structures may be formed within the voids of a secondcomponent engineered structure.

In an embodiment, the mechanical external surfaces of the energy relaymay be formed before or processed after manufacturing to exhibit planar,non-planar, faceted, spherical, cylindrical, geometric, tapered,magnified, minified, round, square, interlaced, woven, or othermechanical surface properties. In an embodiment, forming, molding ormachining the energy relay creates at least one of complex or formedshapes, curved or slanted surfaces, optical elements, gradient indexlenses, diffractive optics, optical relay, optical taper and othergeometric configurations or optical devices. In an embodiment, two ormore energy relays are attached together in an assembly, the resultantstructure is fused or solid or loose or flexible.

In an embodiment, the energy relay comprises a first side and a secondside, the second side having two or more third sides, and wherein thethird sides propagate energy through the second side and combinedthrough the first side.

In one embodiment, a device having Transverse Anderson Localizationproperty includes a relay element formed of one or more of a firststructure and one or more of a second structure, the first structurehaving a first wave propagation property and the second structure havinga second wave propagation property, the relay element configured torelay energy therethrough, where, along a transverse orientation thefirst structure and the second structure are arranged in an interleavingconfiguration with spatial variability, where, along a longitudinalorientation the first structure and the second structure havesubstantially similar configuration, and where energy is spatiallylocalized in the transverse orientation and greater than about 50% ofthe energy propagates along the longitudinal orientation versus thetransverse orientation through the relay element.

In another embodiment, the relay element includes a first surface and asecond surface, and wherein the energy propagating between the firstsurface and the second surface travel along a path that is substantiallyparallel to the longitudinal orientation, in some embodiments, the firstwave propagation property is a first index of refraction and the secondwave propagation property is a second index of refraction, where avariability between the first index of refraction and the second indexof refraction results in the energy being spatially localized in thetransverse orientation and greater than about 50% of the energypropagating from the first surface to the second surface.

In one embodiment, the energy passing through the first surface has afirst resolution, where the energy passing through the second surfacehas a second resolution, and where the second resolution is no less thanabout 50% of the first resolution. In another embodiment, the energywith a uniform profile presented to the first surface passes through thesecond surface to substantially fill a cone with an opening angle of+/−10 degrees relative to the normal to the second surface, irrespectiveof location of the energy on the second surface.

In one embodiment, the first surface has a different surface area thanthe second surface, where the relay element further comprises a slopedprofile portion between the first surface and the second surface, andwhere the energy passing through the relay element results in spatialmagnification or spatial de-magnification. In another embodiment, eachof the first structure and the second structure includes glass, carbon,optical fiber, optical film, polymer or mixtures thereof.

In some embodiments, both the first surface and the second surface areplanar, or both the first surface and the second surface are non-planar,or the first surface is planar and the second surface is non-planar, orthe first surface is non-planar and the second surface is planar, orboth the first surface and the second surface are concave, or both thefirst surface and the second surface are convex, or the first surface isconcave and the second surface is convex, or the first surface is convexand the second surface is concave.

In one embodiment, the device includes the first structure having anaverage first dimension along the transverse orientation that is lessthan four times the wavelength of the energy relayed therethrough,average second and third dimensions substantially larger than theaverage first dimension along second and third orientations,respectively, the second and third orientations substantially orthogonalto the transverse orientation, where the second wave propagationproperty has the same property as the first wave propagation propertybut with a different value, where the first structure and the secondstructure are arranged with maximum spatial variability in thetransverse dimension such that the first wave propagation property andthe second wave propagation property have maximum variation, where thefirst structure and the second structure are spatially arranged suchthat the first wave propagation property and the second wave propagationproperty are invariant along the longitudinal orientation, and wherealong the transverse orientation throughout the relay element, thecenter-to-center spacing between channels of the first structure variesrandomly, with an average spacing between one and four times an averagedimension of the first structure, and where two adjacent longitudinalchannels of the first structure are separated by the second structure atsubstantially every location by a distance of at least one half theaverage dimension of the first structure.

In one embodiment, the relay element includes a first surface and asecond surface, and where the energy propagating between the firstsurface and the second surface travel along a path that is substantiallyparallel to the longitudinal orientation. In another embodiment, thefirst wave propagation property is a first index of refraction and thesecond wave propagation property is a second index of refraction, wherea variability between the first index of refraction and the second indexof refraction results in the energy being spatially localized in thetransverse orientation and greater than about 50% of the energypropagating from the first surface to the second surface.

In one embodiment, a system may include Transverse Anderson Localizationenergy relays with engineered structures incorporating the devices andrelay elements described herein.

While various embodiments in accordance with the principles disclosedherein have been described above, it should be understood that they havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not limiting. Thus, thebreadth and scope of the invention(s) should not be limited by any ofthe above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the claims and their equivalents issuing from thisdisclosure. Furthermore, the above advantages and features are providedin described embodiments, but shall not limit the application of suchissued claims to processes and structures accomplishing any or all ofthe above advantages.

It will be understood that the principal features of this disclosure canbe employed in various embodiments without departing from the scope ofthe disclosure. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able toascertain using no more than routine experimentation, numerousequivalents to the specific procedures described herein. Suchequivalents are considered to be within the scope of this disclosure andare covered by the claims.

Additionally, the section headings herein are provided for consistencywith the suggestions under 37 CFR 1.77 or otherwise to provideorganizational cues. These headings shall not limit or characterize theinvention(s) set out in any claims that may issue from this disclosure.Specifically, and by way of example, although the headings refer to a“Field of Invention,” such claims should not be limited by the languageunder this heading to describe the so-called technical field. Further, adescription of technology in the “Background of the Invention” sectionis not to be construed as an admission that technology is prior art toany invention(s) in this disclosure. Neither is the “Summary” to beconsidered a characterization of the invention(s) set forth in issuedclaims. Furthermore, any reference in this disclosure to “invention” inthe singular should not be used to argue that there is only a singlepoint of novelty in this disclosure. Multiple inventions may be setforth according to the limitations of the multiple claims issuing fromthis disclosure, and such claims accordingly define the invention(s),and their equivalents, that are protected thereby. In all instances, thescope of such claims shall be considered on their own merits in light ofthis disclosure, but should not be constrained by the headings set forthherein.

The use of the word “a” or “an” when used in conjunction with the term“comprising” in the claims and/or the specification may mean “one,” butit is also consistent with the meaning of “one or more,” “at least one,”and “one or more than one.” The use of the term “or” in the claims isused to mean “and/or” unless explicitly indicated to refer toalternatives only or the alternatives are mutually exclusive, althoughthe disclosure supports a definition that refers to only alternativesand “and/or.” Throughout this application, the term “about” is used toindicate that a value includes the inherent variation of error for thedevice, the method being employed to determine the value, or thevariation that exists among the study subjects. In general, but subjectto the preceding discussion, a numerical value herein that is modifiedby a word of approximation such as “about” may vary from the statedvalue by at least ±1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12 or 15%.

As used in this specification and claim(s), the words “comprising” (andany form of comprising, such as “comprise” and “comprises”), “having”(and any form of having, such as “have” and “has”), “including” (and anyform of including, such as “includes” and “include”) or “containing”(and any form of containing, such as “contains” and “contain”) areinclusive or open-ended and do not exclude additional, unrecitedelements or method steps.

Words of comparison, measurement, and timing such as “at the time,”“equivalent,” “during,” “complete,” and the like should be understood tomean “substantially at the time,” “substantially equivalent,”“substantially during,” “substantially complete,” etc., where“substantially” means that such comparisons, measurements, and timingsare practicable to accomplish the implicitly or expressly stated desiredresult. Words relating to relative position of elements such as “near,”“proximate to,” and “adjacent to” shall mean sufficiently close to havea material effect upon the respective system element interactions. Otherwords of approximation similarly refer to a condition that when somodified is understood to not necessarily be absolute or perfect butwould be considered close enough to those of ordinary skill in the artto warrant designating the condition as being present. The extent towhich the description may vary will depend on how great a change can beinstituted and still have one of ordinary skilled in the art recognizethe modified feature as still having the required characteristics andcapabilities of the unmodified feature.

The term “or combinations thereof” as used herein refers to allpermutations and combinations of the listed items preceding the term.For example, “A, B, C, or combinations thereof is intended to include atleast one of: A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and if order is important ina particular context, also BA, CA, CB, CBA, BCA, ACB, BAC, or CAB.Continuing with this example, expressly included are combinations thatcontain repeats of one or more item or term, such as BB, AAA, AB, BBC,AAABCCCC, CBBAAA, CABABB, and so forth. The skilled artisan willunderstand that typically there is no limit on the number of items orterms in any combination, unless otherwise apparent from the context.

All of the compositions and/or methods disclosed and claimed herein canbe made and executed without undue experimentation in light of thepresent disclosure. While the compositions and methods of thisdisclosure have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, itwill be apparent to those of skill in the art that variations may beapplied to the compositions and/or methods and in the steps or in thesequence of steps of the method described herein without departing fromthe concept, spirit and scope of the disclosure. All such similarsubstitutes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art aredeemed to be within the spirit, scope and concept of the disclosure asdefined by the appended claims.

1.-39. (canceled)
 40. A device comprising: a relay element formedwithout a cladding and comprises: one or more of a first componentengineered structure; one or more of a second component engineeredstructure; and one or more of a third component engineered structure;wherein the first, second, and third component engineered structureshave different wave propagation properties and are fused to form a solidstructure; wherein the relay element is operable to relay energy alongthe longitudinal direction through both the first component engineeredstructure and second component engineered structure, the energy beingrelayed is spatially localized in the transverse direction; and whereinthe first component engineered structure is aligned such that energy ispropagated through the first component engineered structure with ahigher transport efficiency in the longitudinal direction versus thetransverse direction; and wherein the second component engineeredstructure is aligned such that energy is propagated through the secondcomponent engineered structure with a higher transport efficiency in thelongitudinal direction versus the transverse direction.
 41. The deviceof claim 40, wherein the third component engineered structure has a wavepropagation property in the relay element to reduce energy not spatiallylocalized in the transverse direction.
 42. The device of claim 41,wherein the energy not spatially localized includes unwanted diffusionor scattering of energy.
 43. The device of claim 40, wherein the thirdcomponent engineered structure has a wave property that comprises atleast one of a reflective, transmissive and absorptive property.
 44. Thedevice of claim 40, wherein the relay element includes a first surfaceand a second surface, and wherein the energy propagating between thefirst surface and the second surface travel along a path that issubstantially parallel to the longitudinal direction.
 45. The device ofclaim 44, wherein the energy with a uniform profile presented to thefirst surface passes through the second surface to substantially fill acone with at least an angle of +/−10 degrees relative to the normal tothe second surface, irrespective of location of the energy on the secondsurface.
 46. The device of claim 40, wherein at least two of the first,second, and third component engineered structures of the relay elementare configured without explicit randomization.
 47. The device of claim40, wherein a spatial ordering of at least two of the first, second, andthird component engineered structures are slightly randomized.
 48. Thedevice of claim 40, wherein at least one of the first, second, or thirdcomponent engineered structure includes one of glass, carbon, silicon,crystal, liquid crystal, oil, epoxy, plastic, resin, fluids,ferromagnetic material, optical fiber, optical film, polymer or mixturesthereof.
 49. The device of claim 40, wherein the relay element isoperable to relay energy by diffraction, refraction, or reflection. 50.The device of claim 40, wherein at least one of the first, second, orthird component engineered structure of the relay element comprises apolarizing element.
 51. The device of claim 40, wherein at least one ofthe first, second, or third component engineered structure of the relayelement comprises a liquid, solid, or gas.
 52. The device of claim 40,wherein at least two of the first, second, and third componentengineered structures are arranged to result in the relay element havingone or more gradients of one or more wave propagation properties acrossthe transverse direction.
 53. The device of claim 52, wherein the one ormore gradients of one or more wave propagations properties comprise oneor more gradients of refractive index in the transverse direction. 54.The device of claim 40, wherein at least two of the first, second, andthird component engineered structures of the relay element areconfigured according to at least one of complex, formed shapes, curved,slanted, regular, irregular, and geometric configurations.
 55. Thedevice of claim 40, wherein at least two of the first, second, and thirdcomponent engineered structures of the relay element are arranged toform an ordered energy relay.
 56. The device of claim 40, wherein thesize scale of the first, second, or third component engineeredstructures of the relay element is on the order of wavelength of theenergy wave being propagated through the relay element.
 57. The deviceclaim 56, wherein the wavelength of the energy wave being propagatedthrough the relay element is on the milli-scale, the micro-scale, or thenano-scale.
 58. The device of claim 40, wherein at least two of thefirst, second, and third component engineered structures of the relayelement are configured to maintain ordering for energy wave transportefficiency.
 59. The device of claim 40, wherein at least two of thefirst, second, and third component engineered structures of the relayelement are arranged to provide a first order of refractive index and asecond order of refractive index with respect to location throughout therelay element.
 60. The device of claim 40, wherein at least two of thefirst, second, and third component engineered structures of the relayelement are arranged to induce wave interference to limit thepropagation energy in the transverse direction.